Third of the way there

2025-11-25 - Sector module #5 is the third segment of the ITER vacuum vessel to be installed in the assembly pit in 2025. The successful operation was achieved overnight from 24 to 25 November.

2025-11-25 - The third of nine modules required to form the ITER plasma chamber is installed in the tokamak assembly pit on 24-25 November 2025. Sector module #5 has the first European-manufactured sector at its core.

2025-11-25 - This fisheye view captures sector module #5 as it is slowly lowered into the tokamak pit. To the left of the image is sector module #7, installed in April. A small section of sector module #6, against which the descending module will be aligned, is visible to the right of the central column. Sector module #6 was installed in June.

2025-11-24 - Spotted on the worksite: some holiday cheer!

2025-11-21 - The call for “the widest practicable” cooperation in the field of fusion energy was the last item in the long list of decisions that came out of the Reagan-Gorbachev Geneva meeting in November 1985. Forty years later, it is one of the few that has been fully realized. (Read more at https://www.iter.org/node/20687/decisive-political-push-launched-iter.)

2025-11-20 - ITER Council Chair Massimo Garribba (Europe) addresses Member delegations during the Thirty-Seventh Meeting of the ITER Council. Near him (left to right) are ITER Council Secretary Katja Rauhansalo, ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi, Deputy Director-General for Science & Technololgy Yutaka Kamada, and Deputy Director-General for Corporate Delong Luo.

2025-11-20 - ITER is performing somewhat ahead of schedule while spending less than anticipated in Baseline 2024. The ITER Council urges the ITER Organization and all Domestic Agencies to continue to drive this pace and performance during its 37th meeting on 19-20 November.

2025-11-19 - Vacuum vessel sector #4, delivered by Europe, is next in line to be mounted to assembly tooling in the Assembly Hall. On 19 November it was transferred into the building.

2025-11-19 - The doors of the former Cryostat Workshop open so that vacuum vessel sector module #4 (left) can be removed and transported to the Assembly Hall.

2025-11-17 - ITER’s port plug test facility will begin operating with one test bench, before expanding in the coming years to three to be able to handle the volume of ITER port plugs to be tested before installation on the machine. The Russian Domestic Agency delivers the first vacuum test chamber (photo) in November, in conjunction with manufacturer GKMP.

2025-11-17 - Team members working on the port plug test facility gather at a ceremony on 13 November to mark the arrival of the first vacuum test tank from Russia. Once port plugs have been fitted with their tenant systems, they will undergo a series of performance tests at the facility that this team is building.

2025-11-14 - All smiles: the SIMANN team (SIMIC + Ansaldo Nucleare) has completed all preparatory work on vacuum vessel sector #4, which was delivered by Europe last May. The sector is ready to be integrated into the sector module assembly line in the Assembly Hall.

2025-11-13 - Staff gather in the amphitheatre and online for a special lecture by Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The talk explores ITER’s journey—from its roots in post-war scientific diplomacy to its evolution as a symbol of international collaboration and technological ambition.

2025-11-13 - French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) Chairman Anne-Isabelle Etienvre and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi tour the ITER installation with ITER Director-General Pietro Barabaschi during a visit on 13 November. They are shown here inside the ITER vacuum vessel.