Putting welding tools to the test

2026-09-16 - Before it can be settled into tooling, vacuum vessel sector #3 must be raised from its horizontal travel position to vertical. That is the job of the ITER upending tools, one of which is seen here in action.

2026-09-16 - The ninth and final sector of the ITER vacuum vessel is leaving Italy. It is expected onsite at ITER in a few weeks.

2026-09-14 - This summer, the four tritium breeding concepts that ITER will be testing in its first deuterium-tritium operation phase passed preliminary design reviews. This opens the door to the final engineering phase.

2026-09-10 - On 10 September, sector #3 is moved to an upending tool to be raised to vertical. Sector #3 is the penultimate vacuum vessel sector: only sector #2 remains to be delivered to ITER.

2026-09-08 - Vacuum vessel sector #3 is brought into the Assembly Hall to join the sub-assembly process.

2026-09-07 - Suspended between steel and sky, a worker scales the gleaming facade of the Assembly Hall to reach a series of vents. The polished surface reflects the deep blue above, blurring the boundary between structure and atmosphere.

2026-09-03 - The handover of sector #3 in early September marks end of vacuum vessel bevel repairs. ITER has been collaborating for nearly three years with SIMANN (SIMIC and Ansaldo Nucleare) on the onsite refurbishment of the bevel edges (where the sectors will be welded together in the pit) following the discovery of some dimensional non-conformities.

2026-09-03 - After irregularities were found in the bevels—the edges where the sectors will be welded together to form the tokamak’s plasma chamber—ITER launched a repair campaign in partnership with SIMANN (SIMIC and Ansaldo Nucleare). That campaign has now been completed.

2026-09-03 - With the official handover of vacuum vessel sector #3 to the assembly team on 2 September, a nearly three-year bevel repair campaign has been successfully completed. All sectors needing repair have been repaired.

2026-09-01 - Toroidal field coil #07 is lifted into an upending cradle. Earlier this year, coil #07 was successfully cooled to 4.5 K and energized up to 10 kA in ITER's onsite magnet cold test facility.

2026-08-31 - A segment of vacuum vessel thermal shield is unwrapped in an ITER staging building. Each vacuum vessel sector gets associated with three panels of thermal shield during the sub-assembly process in the Assembly Hall.

2026-08-30 - Completing the tokamak cooling water system bridge was the work of a diverse team of experts. The coloured plastic is used for preservation purposes.

2026-08-30 - An 11-metre-long multi-pipe bridge that is a key connection point for the tokamak cooling water system has been completed in the Tokamak Complex. The bridge contains 28 process pipes for cooling water, draining, venting and sampling purposes.

2026-08-19 - In Monfalcone, Italy, the teams are carrying out the final factory activities on vacuum vessel sector #2—the last of five sectors produced in Europe. When it arrives at ITER in October, all nine of the vacuum vessel sectors required to complete the torus will be on site. ©F4E