Summer works

A new chapter opens

9 Sep 2019

Notice anything? Yes, the giant poster (25 x 50 m) on the temporary wall of the Assembly Hall has been removed. Displaying a cutaway of the ITER Tokamak, it had been installed in June 2016 and, for more than three years, it stood as a reminder of ITER's ambition.

From the tallest heights of the Tokamak Building to the lowest depths of the machine assembly pit, intense activity is underway to prepare for the assembly phase that will officially commence in March 2020.

Little by little, as the bioshield and Tokamak Complex took shape, most of the poster disappeared from view. Its removal in late August marks a first step in the dismantling process that will see the temporary wall that separates the Assembly Hall from the Tokamak Building removed.

The poster's disappearance is just one sign that a new chapter is opening in ITER construction. Throughout the worksite, operations large and small are all heading in the same direction: preparing for the assembly phase that will officially commence in March 2020.

Following Newsline's summer recess (there is no such thing as a "summer recess" on the ITER worksite) the gallery below takes you on a tour of the major operations conducted or initiated in August—from the tallest heights of the Tokamak Building where the first pillars of the crane hall will soon be installed, to the lowest depths of the Tokamak pit where work as delicate as watchmaking is being performed on 5-tonne components.