From table to platform
The assembly operations will take place in the Assembly Hall, on the massive platform to the right of the image. The stack, totaling 1,000 tonnes when all six modules are in place, will be supported by nine "lower key blocks" arranged in a circle, four of which are already in place on the platform. On the floor, in front of the platform, a fifth sits upside down with its locating rods pointing up. Removable hydraulic jacks inside the key blocks will exert huge pressure (210 meganewtons²) on the module stack and keep it in mechanical compression.
In approximately one month, the module will be moved from the table to the platform and the assembly process will begin in earnest.
¹ A second central solenoid module has already been delivered to ITER.
² A meganewton (MN) is a unit of force corresponding to the force required to accelerate a mass of one million kilograms by one metre per second.