Image of the week

In the belly of the (flying) whale

For an aircraft with a lifting capacity of up to 150 tonnes, "Isabelle" and "Jeanne" at 30 tonnes each representetd a rather light load. Transport from CEA-Saclay, where the coils were cold tested, to the departing airport close to Paris and to Nagoya was handled by logistics provider DAHER. © DAHER-Acapella.
On 15 February, "Isabelle" and "Jeanne," the last of the ten toroidal field coils manufactured in France for the EU-Japan tokamak JT-60SA, were swallowed into the cargo bay of a giant Antonov 124 bound for Nagoya, Japan. They arrived the next day at their destination (see a full report here).
 
The JT-60 SA tokamak, which is being assembled in Naka, is part of the Broader Approach agreement signed between Japan and Euratom, and implemented by QST Japan and the European Domestic Agency for ITER.