The placement of the final 110-tonne central solenoid module means the world’s largest pulsed superconducting electromagnet has now reached its full height. With the successful lift of the final module on 23 June, the stacking of the central solenoid—the powerful magnet at the heart of the ITER tokamak with magnetic force strong enough to raise an aircraft carrier out of the water—is now complete. While crucial technical work remains before the magnet is ready to be transferred into the tokamak pit, the completed stack is a landmark moment for the project and represents the culmination of years of international coordination for the manufacture, transport, and assembly of the component’s magnetic core.“This was a critical operation and thanks to the excellent work of the well-integrated technical team we have reached an important assembly milestone,” says Patrick Petit, ITER’s In-Cryostat Assembly Project Leader. “This success is a concrete demonstration of the effective cooperation between ITER and its partners.”Standing 18 metres tall and weighing almost 1,000 tonnes, the central solenoid will induce the plasma current needed to initiate and help control the fusion reaction inside the tokamak. Procured by the US Domestic Agency, the central solenoid’s six main modules and one spare module were manufactured by General Atomics in California using niobium-tin superconducting conductor produced in Japan.  The central solenoid module needs to reach its final destination with only 2 mm of alignment tolerance. ITER engineers and experts from ITER’s assembly contractor CNPE Consortium collaborated to bring it home. The final lift was a demanding operation. After being raised above the five modules that were already stacked, the 110-tonne component had to be lowered into place between busbar leads with clearances of just 50 millimetres on one side and 65 millimetres on the other. â€œEach module had slightly different clearances and the final module was particularly interesting because it’s the top module and required a unique installation path and a rigorous metrology effort to avoid the busbar leads from the two previously installed modules,” says Carl Cormany, the ITER superconducting engineer who supervised the operation. “We’re happy with how the lifting operation went and having the six modules in place is a major accomplishment. But things are moving quickly so we’re already looking ahead to the next phase of activities on the central solenoid.”Indeed, although the stack has now reached its full height the assembly campaign is far from complete. Engineers will next carry out a detailed survey to verify the alignment of all six modules before connecting piping, installing instrumentation, assembling the tie plate system that will provide structural support, and compressing the stack into its final operating configuration. These activities are expected to continue for more than a year. ITER superconducting engineer Carl Cormany points out the helium cooling pipes on the outside of the central solenoid stack. In the next phase of activity, the primary supply and return pipes will be connected to the internal helium manifolds.

The governing body of the ITER Organization, the ITER Council, just concluded its first regular meeting of 2026. The ITER Council is the highest governing body of the ITER Organization. It represents the seven ITER Members—China, Euratom (European Union), India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States—and is responsible for the overall direction and oversight of the project.The Council typically meets in June and November to review construction progress, schedule updates, technical issues, budgets, risks, and recommendations from its advisory committees. These meetings allow the members to make decisions and keep the project aligned with agreed objectives. The ITER Council met on 25 and 26 June for its first 2026 meeting under the chairmanship of Eisuke Tada (Japan). A report will be published in the next ITER Newsline.

The Fusion Industry Association (FIA) released its 2026 Supply Chain Report. The annual report surveyed 25 private fusion companies and 67 suppliers to find a 24% spending increase among respondents, from USD 434 million in 2024 to USD 538 million in 2025. The FIA projects supply chain spending to grow by another 27% this year.“We see signs of the ‘chicken and egg’ gridlock raised in previous reports easing, as supplier relationships improve and new and existing suppliers invest in scaling up capacity to meet the sector’s growing needs,” said FIA CEO Andrew Holland. Over the past year, 70% of surveyed suppliers increased their business with fusion companies and 75% made investments (in people, training, equipment, infrastructure, and manufacturing capability) ranging from USD 30,000 to USD 65 million to grow their capacity to support fusion. However, challenges remain. Only a quarter (26%) of the fusion company respondents found existing suppliers to be successfully scaling their capacity. Namely, nearly half of respondents currently face constraints related to heat management technologies (44%) and power systems and components (48%). Likewise, many cite first-wall materials (40%) and fuel cycle systems (48%) as future bottlenecks. “Building that capability and capacity will need a truly collaborative effort between policymakers, investors, the supply chain and fusion companies,” said Holland.The report can be downloaded from the FIA website at this address.