24th SOFT conference held in Warsaw, Poland

This year's Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT) was held in the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw, Poland, from 11-15th September. With over 660 participants, it is the largest fusion conference in Europe and is held every two years. An R&D and industrial exhibition with 26 participant organisations and companies was part of the conference.

Norbert Holtkamp, ITER Principal Deputy Director General Nominee, and Project Construction Leader, gave an overview of the ITER project. He underlined that given its size and cost, and the involvement of virtually all of the most developed countries representing over half of today's world population, ITER will become a new reference point for big science projects.

Mr. Holtkamp emphasized his commitment to implement the construction of ITER on schedule and on budget. "The SOFT conference was my first exposure to the international fusion community and associated industries. It certainly was an opportunity to learn about the status of fusion in general and also about open issues with ITER. At the moment, we are clearly in a phase of transition from a research project to a construction project."