ITER site, 5:25 a.m. on Friday 20 September. The moon is high and, despite a sleepless night, so are the spirits. The huge trailer with its load of concrete blocks that replicates the size and weight of ITER's most exceptional components—800 tonnes in all—has rolled to a stop.
Among those present at that early hour there's a feeling of relief and a deep sense of accomplishment: the operation was a complete success.
Arriving on schedule and with only one minor incident the test-convoy has demonstrated the conformity of the ITER Itinerary with the rigorous technical specifications of ITER's most exceptional loads. The way is now open for the delivery of the actual components of the ITER Tokamak.
The journey had begun four nights earlier on the shores of the Étang de Berre, a small inland sea connected by a narrow channel to the Mediterranean. The self-propelled trailer, accompanied by a large escort of support personnel, vehicles, technical experts and gendarmerie motorcyclists got off to a start at around 9:45 p.m.