In 1855, in an early example of crowd funding, the citizens of Marseille decided to offer Empress Eugénie, the wife of Emperor Napoleon III, a sumptuous palace overlooking the Old Port of Marseille. However the imperial couple never had a chance to open the windows on to the magnificent view the palace commands: the Emperor was deposed in 1870 before construction was complete and the palace was returned to the city and transformed into a school of medicine. In the 1990s, as an underground auditorium and conference rooms were added to the venerable edifice, the Palais du Pharo began a new life as conference centre. It is in this unique setting that the 5th edition of the ITER Business Forum was held on 25-27 March. Since its first edition in Nice, France (2007), the ITER Business Forum has been the place where representatives of industry, large or small, can access in-depth information about the ITER Project, its progress, needs and forthcoming tenders. The 2015 edition of the ITER Business Forum (IBF/2015) was organized with the support of the European Domestic Agency Industrial Liaison Officer (ILO) network, Agence Iter France, the Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and local authorities (the Regional Agency for Innovation and Internationalization, the Bouches-du-Rhône Department Council, the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regional Council, and the Municipality of Marseille). It is also the place where a representative from a giant company like Mitsubishi (Japan) or KEPCO (Korea), can sit at the same table as a manager of a four-person business in Holland and discuss business and partnership opportunities. What can you do for me? What can I do for you? Can we combine our expertise for ITER?Attending conferences and presentations, meeting "one-to-one" with other companies, or visiting the exhibition hall, were more than 860 people from the industries or laboratories of 26 countries, representing an exceptionally wide range of expertise.For Sabine Portier, the French ITER Industrial liaison officer (and the key organizer of the event together with her colleague Philippe Olivier), there is reason to be satisfied: "We have registered a record number of attendees ─ this is the sign of a growing interest in ITER from industry worldwide. They understand the huge challenges of the project and they're willing to tackle them. In terms of expanded expertise and also of image, ITER can bring considerable benefits." They said:   Senator Jean-Claude Gaudin, Mayor of Marseille:"For the past ten years, we have all been mobilized to rise to the great challenge that ITER represents. Our efforts have been rewarded. We know that in supporting today's research we are creating the jobs of tomorrow."   Bernard Bigot, Director-General, ITER Organization:"On 6 March, when I took up my duties, I symbolically renounced my nationality because the most important feature of ITER is its international nature. Hence I now consider myself an ITERnational citizen..."   Jean-Marc Filhol, head of the ITER Department at the European Domestic Agency (Fusion for Energy):"Long-term studies show that for every 100 euros invested in industry by the European Space Agency, there has been an average return of approximately 300 euros thanks to spin-off activities. We can expect comparable levels of return from the investments being made for ITER."   Jérôme Pamela, director of Agence Iter France, on behalf of Daniel Verwaerde, the new French High Representative for the ITER Project:"The record crowds - more than 800 participants for this IBF 2015 - are a clear indicator of how well this program is doing, a program that has no equivalent worldwide. ITER embodies one of the greatest challenges facing humanity." "We're a small company in Denmark specialized in machining stainless and high alloy steels," explained the sales and export manager for Triplecut A/S, Jacob Hougaard. "Does a project like ITER need our competence? I believe so, but we're small and we lack visibility. So the problem for us is to meet the right people and this is the perfect place: I have 9 one-to-one meetings scheduled with companies that, for the most part, are already involved in ITER. I'm trying to find how we can fit into the big picture."Unlike Hougaard, Cock Heemskerk, from Holland, is already an ITER Business Forum veteran. His four-person company, Heemskerk Innovative Technology BV, is specialized in remote handling procedures and simulations. For some time now, it has been involved in the new, "more remote-handling-friendly design" of the mobile mirror that reflects and redirects the energy beam of the ITER electron cyclotron upper launchers."But like any company," he smiles, "we would like more contracts. And this is the place where I know I can make contacts with all the Domestic Agencies that are procuring systems for ITER and show them what we can do. I have set up ten appointments over two days and I have a movie to show that is irresistible..."His company has already benefitted from its association with ITER. "By pushing us to the limit of what is doable, ITER has expanded our expertise," says Heemskerk. Another smile and he adds: "I have a long-term vision, both for ITER and for my company..."With a plenary session and 14 thematic workshops organized with the support of the ITER Organization, the ITER Domestic Agencies and their main suppliers, the 2015 edition of the ITER Business Forum provided a broad overview of the status of the project as it enters a new and crucial phase."Ten years after the Members decided to build ITER in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France, we are now fully engaged in the industrial phase of the project," said ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot to the members of the press who covered the event. "Contracts of EUR 6.5 billion are underway for ITER construction and manufacturing.""In Europe," added Jean-Marc Filhol, who heads the ITER Department at the European Domestic Agency, Fusion for Energy, "it can be estimated that contracts with industry are already creating over 15,000 person-years of employment."Close to ITER, where approximately 1,500 people work for the ITER Organization, Agence Iter France or Fusion for Energy on site, 1,100 indirect jobs have been created over the past few years according to Jerôme Pamela, director of Agence Iter France. Companies that have opened offices or agencies close to the ITER site have created 400 jobs locally.Two of them—KEPCO from Korea and Amec Foster Wheeler from Great Britain—received the label "Invest in Provence" during the business forum from the hands of the President of the Marseille-Provence Chamber of Commerce.Eight years ago at the time of the first edition of ITER Business Forum, site clearing activities were just beginning and only one Procurement Arrangement—the documents that govern the procurement of plant systems, components, or site construction—had been signed. The platform is now teeming with activity, two large buildings are completed, 16 others are at various stages of construction and the number of Procurement Arrangements has passed the 104 mark (out of 139), representing 90.53 percent of the project's total in-kind value.And in factories on three continents, the ITER machine is becoming more and more tangible every day.

During the fifth edition of the ITER Business Forum in Marseille, the European Domestic Agency concluded a major contract with the global group DAHER for the logistics and transport of European components for ITER. The EUR 100 million contract covers the shipment of an estimated 4,000 European-procured high-technology components from their production location to the ITER site in France. In February 2012, the ITER Organization had signed a global framework contract with DAHER on behalf of the ITER Domestic Agencies to facilitate the complex logistics related to the transport of ITER components from suppliers all over the globe to the ITER site. The framework agreement foresaw the conclusion of specific agreements, called Implementation Agreements, between each Domestic Agency and DAHER (or DAHER partners) nominated locally.  Last week's signature was thus the conclusion of negotiations between DAHER and the European Domestic Agency for its specific transport needs. As host, Europe is also responsible for paying for DAHER services used by the other ITER Members to transfer their components on French soil, from Marseille's airport (Marignane) or the Fos-sur-Mer port to the ITER site.   Read the full article on the European Domestic Agency website. 

As the ITER facility rises in southern France, the US Domestic Agency for ITER is ramping up its procurement deliveries. In January, the United-States delivered its first batch of production superconductor for the toroidal field magnet system to the European winding facility in La Spezia, Italy. The same month, it delivered the first highly exceptional load to travel the ITER Itinerary —a massive high voltage transformer for the steady state electrical system. And in March, the first components of the tokamak cooling water system, two large drain tanks, were shipped from Camden, New Jersey, for forecasted delivery to the ITER site in April. US deliveries are timed to meet the ITER construction schedule. The drain tanks, for example, are among the first large-scale components delivered to the ITER site because they need to be installed in the basement level of the Tokamak Building during construction. The electrical component deliveries are needed so the ITER site can receive power from the 400kV grid as the installation and commissioning activities intensify and the electrical demand increases beyond the capacity of the temporary power source now in use. US ITER is using the US-based vendor TransProject, LLC, to handle shipping, as part of a project-wide logistics services agreement. The January toroidal field conductor delivery to the European winding facility in La Spezia is the first US shipment of production conductor—conductor which will actually be installed in the ITER machine. (Earlier US deliveries were for sample conductors, used to verify the manufacturing and winding process for the toroidal field coils.) The US is providing 8 percent of ITER's toroidal field conductor—a total of over 6.4 km of conductor—and will complete its conductor deliveries by 2016. The ITER drain tank procurement consists of four 61,000 gallon tanks, plus one smaller 27,000 gallon tank. Manufactured by Joseph Oat Corporation in Camden, N.J., under contract to Areva Federal Services in Charlotte, North Carolina, the tanks—part of the tokamak cooling water system—are the first ITER components to be manufactured in the US to comply with French nuclear safety pressure regulations.The United States is responsible for the design and procurement of the entire tokamak cooling water system, which is the primary cooling system for the ITER machine and has the capacity to remove 1 GW of power from client systems in the form of heat. The high voltage transformer delivered in January is part the 75 percent US contribution to ITER's steady state electrical network. In the months to come, the US will deliver three other identical transformers to the site, plus 6.6 kV and 22 kV switchgear components.

Europe has successfully completed tests on the first full-size, superconducting prototype of a toroidal field coil "double pancake."   Each one of ITER's giant, D-shaped toroidal field coils will contain seven double pancakes. These pancakes, or layers, are composed of a length of superconductor, which carries the electrical current, and a stainless steel D-shaped plate called a radial plate, which holds and mechanically supports the conductor through groves machined on both sides along a spiral trajectory.   In order to verify the prototype's ability to withstand the cryogenic temperatures of ITER, it was cooled to the temperature of liquid nitrogen (approximately -196 ËšC) and then returned to room temperature. The prototype was also thoroughly tested for its response to high voltage and was submitted to leak testing. All tests were passed without problem.   The successful completion of these technically demanding tests was celebrated as an important milestone in Europe, which is responsible for the fabrication of 10 toroidal field coils. (Japan will manufacture the other eight required for Tokamak assembly plus one spare.)   For Alessandro Bonito-Oliva, European Domestic Agency project manager for magnets, "it is an important technological step towards the manufacturing of one of the biggest and most complex superconducting coils ever produced." He credits successful collaboration with the manufacturing consortium (ASG Superconductors, Italy; Iberdrola Ingeneria, Spain; and Elytt Energy, Spain) and radial plate manufacturers CNIM (France) and SIMIC (Italy), as well as collaboration with the ITER Organization central team and the Japanese Domestic Agency.   Series production is progressing well in Europe for the toroidal field coils. Twelve radial plates have left the manufacturing lines at CNIM and SIMIC and 25 double pancakes have been wound at the ASG facility in La Spezia, Italy. Fifteen of the wound double pancakes have been through the process of heat treatment and 11 have been transferred inside of a radial plate.  

By comparing the ratio of "heavy water" (in which one hydrogen atom is replaced by its heavier isotope deuterium) to "normal water" in the atmosphere of Mars, scientists at NASA and the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have come to the conclusion that the Red Planet was once home to a large ocean that covered a greater portion of the planet's surface than the Atlantic Ocean does on Earth.   The international team of scientists used ESO's Very Large Telescope, along with instruments at the W. M. Keck Observatory and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, to monitor the atmosphere of the planet and map out the properties of the water in different parts of Mars's atmosphere over a six-year period.   "Our study provides a solid estimate of how much water Mars once had, by determining how much water was lost to space," said Geronimo Villanueva, a scientist working at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, and lead author of the new paper. "With this work, we can better understand the history of water on Mars."   Watch NASA's video and read more on the ESO website.

​The ITER Organization is hosting an Industrial Information Day on 21 May 2015 to present the scope and the procurement program of the ITER assembly and installation phase.The full-day event will include overview presentations on the management of the planned work scope, tender rules and regulations, and presentations on specific work contracts.See the Business Events page to register on line before 8 May 2015.

The European Physical Society (EPS) has named Princeton physicist Nat Fisch winner of the 2015 Hannes Alfvén Prize, awarded for outstanding contributions to plasma physics. Director of the Princeton Program in Plasma Physics and professor and associate chair of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University, Fisch received the prize for fundamental studies of wave-particle interactions and for predicting new plasma phenomena, including new ways of creating electrical currents using radio-frequency waves. [...] Fisch has been studying waves in plasmas for years and in many different contexts. "the problem of using waves to transform energy in plasma from one form to another is one I returned to again and again during my career," he said. In addition to pursuing how wave effects might make fusion energy practical, he is currently researching how to use plasma to reach the next generation of laser beam intensities. Read the full article here.