What is the best way to understand a complex, revolutionary and futuristic technology that has challenged, confounded, and inspired the human mind and spirit for generations?  By listening to the people that are at the forefront of trying to master the energy source of the Sun in order to meet the increasing demand for energy here on earth. A new podcast miniseries from the ITER Organization, "All about ITER," brings the listeners onto the ITER construction site, where hosts Kruti Mawani Fayot, Anna Bondyreva and Will Ebrey explore a wide array of topics. What is it like to work in a multicultural environment? What unique international school was created for the ITER Project? How complex is ITER procurement and how are transportation logistics managed? How did the project come about? And what science is planned? Episode 1: The Big Black Box on the Hill (An Introduction) Episode 2: A Melting Pot of Cultures at Work Episode 3: The Sun is Our Model (A Conversation with Monaco-ITER Postdocs) Episode 4: The History of ITER Episode 5: Piecing the Puzzle Together (A Unique In-Kind Contribution and Transportation System) Episode 6: Beyond a Reasonable Doubt Find all six episodes of ITER Stories on the ITER podcast page. Watch a promotional trailer here.

The upending of a vacuum vessel sector is one of the most spectacular of all pre-assembly operations. Not only is it a challenge to lift an extremely heavy and delicate load, but it also requires utmost precision to balance and tilt the load in mid-air. During the upending operation, the 40-degree section of the vacuum vessel—safely lashed to a bespoke frame called the upending tool—is slowly lifted from the horizontal to the vertical position. The move is required in order to align the component's lifting hooks to the complex crane rigging that will carry it across to the giant tool where the sector will be pre-assembled with other major components such as its thermal shield and associated vertical magnets, as well as many smaller items like linking structures and clamps. In March 2021, the first vacuum vessel sector (#6) was successfully upended and positioned in the sub-assembly tool closest to the Tokamak Building. Since then, work has been underway to achieve the 27 'steps' required before the new sub-assembly can be transferred into the Tokamak pit. (The sub-assembly, or 'module,' forms the basic building block of the vacuum vessel's torus shape. Nine 40-degree modules are required to achieve the closure of the torus.) On Thursday 9 December, as the first module was reaching the last stages of completion, a second vacuum vessel sector, #1(7), was upended and positioned facing the second standing tool, where it will transferred to follow the same sub-assembly steps as the first. As the 650-tonne* load was slowly lifted and tilted, the atmosphere in the Assembly Hall was one of business as usual. Although an operation of this scope and complexity is never routine, the teams have now accumulated enough experience to feel perfectly confident in the face of the challenge. * 440 tonnes for the component, and approximately 200 tonnes for the upending tool.

Eric Boidard, an ENGAGE employee who began working on the ITER Project in July 2020, is a man of patience. A photography enthusiast, he had to wait quite a long time for the rare conjunction of 'the setting moon and the ITER construction site.' Early December, at last, celestial mechanics and clear weather above Vinon-sur-Verdon combined to create the perfect conditions. Eric installed his tripod and Nikon Z6 camera fitted with a 200-500 mm zoom, framed the Tokamak Complex, the worksite cranes, the waxing crescent moon, and began shooting through the open window of his appartment. No fewer than 400 single still photographs which, once combined, created this amazingly beautiful time-lapse video. Click here to view the video.

In the latest episode of the ITER Talks series, join ITER specialist Robert Pearce for a voyage into the universe of vacuum. Is vacuum absolutely nothing ... or is it something more than you could imagine? Does a 'perfect vacuum' exist? How can vacuum be defined and measured, and how did scientists come to understand it? What is the importance of vacuum for ITER? As head of the Vacuum Delivery & Installation Section at ITER, Pearce is responsible for the systems that will create the necessary vacuum conditions not only in the plasma chamber and the cryostat, but also in heating, diagnostic and auxiliary systems. Watch the fourth episode of the ITER Talks here. See the full ITER Talks playlist here.

A new episode of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Sound of Science podcast puts the focus on fusion. "Building a sun on Earth to produce unlimited, carbon-free energy may sound like science fiction, but it's not. It's a nuclear process called fusion, where two atoms join together and create an abundance of energy. Recreating the power of a star is no easy feat, but scientists across the globe are hard at work to make it a reality. From materials, to confining sun-hot plasmas, to fuel, there are a lot of scientific challenges to overcome to build a fusion reactor. In this episode, we talked to several Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists about how they are tackling these problems and why the future of fusion looks brighter than ever right now." Listen to "Fusion: Energy at the Extreme" here (30').

On Wednesday, 8 December 2021, Al Jazeera's The Stream asked: Could fusion energy be the clean energy answer to the climate crisis? Recent advances have led to a rise in interest and funding from investors who want to see the first energy-creating fusion machine and eventually the first fusion power plant to generate power that is safe and free of carbon emissions. How far are we away from re-creating the energy source of the Sun? Host Josh Rushing speaks with Tim Luce, chief scientist at the ITER Organization; Andrew Holland, CEO of the Fusion Industry Association; and Tammy Ma, from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility. Watch a replay of the 25-minute show here.