On KSTAR, ITER’s plasma control system successfully takes charge

2026-04-17 - Toroidal field coil #18 arrived yesterday in the Assembly Hall and it is already being prepped for handling.

2026-04-16 - Creating each of the nine sector modules that will make up the vacuum vessel torus requires associating a vacuum vessel sector with a pair of toroidal field coils. This toroidal field coil is being moved out of storage to enter the sector module assembly process.

2026-04-16 - Vacuum vessel sector #3 left the workshop of the AMW consortium this week and is travelling towards ITER. Sector #3 will be the fourth sector delivered by Europe and the eighth overall to reach the ITER site.

2026-04-15 - Vacuum vessel sector #3 has been completed in Europe by the AMW consortium (Ansaldo Nucleare, Westinghouse, Walter Tosto) and will soon set sail from the port of Ortona, in Italy. Once delivered to ITER, it will be the fourth European sector on site and the eighth overall.

2026-04-14 - On 14 April 2026, the French Authority for Nuclear Safety and Radiation Protection (ASNR) approves the ITER Organization’s request to exclude the ITER vacuum vessel from French and European pressure equipment rules. By recognizing that electromagnetic forces—not coolant pressure—drive the ITER tokamak vessel design, the decision marks a significant step toward a regulatory framework tailored to tokamak fusion devices.

2026-04-13 - In March, ITER’s plasma control system (iPCS) was successfully deployed and operated on the KSTAR tokamak in Daejeon, Korea. The primary objective was to validate the behaviour of the ITER plasma control system under realistic operating conditions and to expose system‑level issues at an early stage.

2026-04-13 - In March, this team was at the KSTAR tokamak in Korea for the deployment and operation of ITER's plasma control system, iPCS. This was the first time the system achieved first plasma on an operating tokamak—a concrete result that reduces technical risk ahead of ITER plasma operations. From left to right: Taehyun Tak, Piotr Perek (DMCS), Luca Zabeo, Woong-Ryol Lee, Timo Ravensbergen, and Myounghun Kim.

2026-04-11 - A mid-plane brace is attached while the sector module is in the assembly tool (left) and then removed after the module is successfully transferred into the tokamak pit (right).

2026-04-09 - As part of their transport to the project site, ITER's largest and heaviest loads travel along a specialized road itinerary, which begins AFTER to loads first cross the inland sea of Berre on a barge. The weather was perfect for the crossing of this set of components—side correction coils from China—which will be the 199th highly exceptional load to travel along the ITER itinerary.

2026-04-07 - Panel by panel, site teams are installing cladding on this extension of the former Cryostat Workshop. Inside, a large test stand will be installed to practice ITER blanket assembly activities.

2026-04-07 - "Bellows" installed between the cryostat and the walls of the Tokamak Building, or between the vacuum vessel and the cryostat, will permit the ITER machine to "breathe" during operation by accommodating thermal expansion and mechanical loads. There are 93 to install; for this, a special transportation, upending and alignment trolley has been developed in India and is on its way to ITER.

2026-04-03 - The next convoys along the ITER route mark a double milestone, carrying the final set of ITER correction coils from China while also representing the 199th and 200th exceptional-load convoys to travel along the ITER itinerary since 2015.

2026-04-02 - At the SITL logistics exhibition in Paris in April, the European Domestic Agency for ITER, the logistics group Daher, and the industrial river transport company CFT receive the “Green Shipper” award, recognizing the low-emission transport of ITER’s largest components across southern France’s inland sea Étang de Berre. The prize highlights the use of inland waterways as a cleaner alternative to road haulage for some of Europe’s most demanding cargo operations.

2026-04-01 - A visit by a delegation of European lawmakers on 1 April highlighted ITER’s role in Europe’s long-term energy strategy and its growing impact on the European economy. Here, MEPs Christophe Grudler (France) and Yvan Verougstraete (Belgium) visit the Assembly Hall with ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi.