Inside the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility, around 60 metres of conductor length have already been submitted to the series of operations that will ultimately turn cable-in-conduit (CICC) conductor into the "double pancake windings" for the ring-shaped magnets of the ITER Tokamak. The process—from conductor de-spooling to tape and fiberglass wrapping—represents only the first stage of fabrication (the "winding" stage) and just a fraction of the material that will go into making the double pancakes of an actual poloidal field coil.   Depending on their size, the four poloidal field coils manufactured on site by Europe will require from 6 to 14 km of conductor.   With the winding table now commissionned, fabrication for a "pre-dummy" and a real-size dummy, using copper conductor in lieu of the actual niobium-titanium (NbTi) alloy, will begin in late June. With the winding machine now commissioned, the fabrication of a pre-dummy (a few more turns than the present sample) followed by an actual dummy for poloidal field coil #5 (17 metres in diameter) will begin in late June.   However, before dummy fabrication can start one last operation needs to be performed: the cleaning, from top to bottom, of all the surfaces inside the 12,000 square metres building to ensure the required clean atmosphere—a task that has just begun and will take about four weeks to complete.   Click here to view a video, produced by the European agency for ITER, on the manufacturing process of the ITER poloidal field coils.

In a few weeks, a spectacular operation will unfold in the Assembly Hall: the four girders and corresponding trolleys that form the double overhead crane will be lifted into position, some 43 metres above the basemat. Most of the elements that will form this exceptionally powerful lifting tool have been delivered to ITER─the four girders, each weighing 155 tonnes, arrived in March and April, and the four trolley structures in mid-May. As for the drums, they will be in this week.   In order to prepare for the installation, similar operations are underway at both ends of the ITER site.   At the north end of the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility where the girders have been stored since their delivery, workers are busy installing bogies (also called "trucks"), gear-motors, braces and the electrical equipment that will power both cranes and trolleys.   In the storage area at the entrance of the site, work began today to install equipment on two of the four trolleys—this work will gain momentum when the drums are delivered in mid-week.   Once all the equipment and accessories are installed, girders and trolleys will be moved to the Assembly Hall. A powerful crawler crane, operating from outside the building, will pass its hook through an opening in the roof and lift the components according to a carefully planned sequence of events.   Considering the height of the Assembly Hall structure, the weight and size of the components to install, and the required precision, the operation promises to be one of the Wow! moments of ITER construction.

The ITER Organization will rely on over 220 plant instrumentation and control (I&C) systems to measure and control plasma parameters. Signals coming from the plant I&C systems will interface with the central ITER control system using a uniform, standardized interface "language" and approach that has been developed by the ITER CODAC team.   Work is underway now to test plant I&C systems based on ITER CODAC technology both in a dedicated CODAC control room at the ITER site and abroad.   Last September, the ITER Organization reported that a prototype neutron diagnostics plant instrumentation and control (I&C) system had been successfully demonstrated in manual and automated operation mode at ITER, proving that complex and high performance diagnostics can be built in compliance with the standards, specifications and interfaces defined by the CODAC team in the ITER Plant Control Design Handbook. While the system is still incomplete in terms of functionality and number of measurement channels, it is representative of many of the functions required for operation of the Tokamak as well as required performance.   The basic plant I&C for the divertor neutron flux monitor has now been shipped to the Russian Domestic Agency in Moscow for extensive evaluation, including with actual fission chambers. Prior to the evaluation, the Russian Domestic Agency carried out site acceptance testing in the presence of colleagues from ITER—a step which also served to demonstrate the importance of site acceptance tests for all diagnostics.   During this critical phase, operators validate that the design of the delivered solution meets the diagnostics requirements for Tokamak operation; that it fully integrates with the central systems of CODAC, interlock and safety; and that it is ready for integrated commissioning in preparation for plasma operation. Site acceptance procedures also include the verification of documentation, hardware inventory, and the accessibility of software source codes.   Following the installation and configuration of the basic plant I&C for the divertor neutron flux monitor in April, a total of 50 tests were carried out to verify interfaces, system functionalities, and performance. The successful results were then presented to an audience of scientists, engineers and project managers.   Although built as a prototype I&C plant system for a neutron diagnostic, the modular software structure of the delivered solution allows its re-usability by other diagnostic systems. Functionalities such as data acquisition, timing, data processing, data archiving and real-time data publishing are common to many diagnostics, and this first prototype will serve as an excellent platform for the development of other diagnostics plant I&C systems.   Future collaboration with the Russian Domestic Agency will focus on scaling to large number of channels, interfacing with real fission detectors, and adding additional functions required for operation. To reach these goals, the teams will use collaborative tool infrastructure provided by the ITER Organization.

US Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz dedicated the most powerful spherical torus fusion facility in the world on 20 May 2016. The $94-million upgrade to the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX-U), funded by the DOE Office of Science, is a spherical tokamak fusion device that explores the creation of high-performance plasmas at 100-million degree temperatures. NSTX-U at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) will allow researchers around the world to explore fusion reactions [...] "The vastly expanded capabilities of this spherical tokamak will enable us to explore new physics regimes and tackle the major engineering problems for fusion energy," Moniz said. NSTX-U draws on a 65-year-old legacy of fusion energy research at Princeton University's Plasma Physics Laboratory where, in the 1950s, physicist Lyman Spitzer created a machine he called a stellarator to produce energy the same way as the Sun. Experimental stellarators and tokamaks, the two most prominent fusion reactor designs, now dot the globe. "This is exciting new territory, and we're thrilled to embark on the next frontier of fusion research. This device could transform the world by showing us the way to a pilot plant design for the generation of power from fusion energy for use by all," said Stewart Prager, director, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Read the full article on the PPPL website.

A new energy technology "distillate" has been published by Princeton University's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment on magnetic confinement fusion, a technology with "enormous promise" as a global energy source, according to the authors. The paper presents some of the basic science relevant to fusion energy and the central technical challenges before addressing the economic prospects for commercial fusion, the differences between fusion and fission, and the politics and progress in the global effort to develop nuclear fusion. Andlinger Center distillates aim to provide succinct yet substantive information to a non-specialist audience on emerging topics in energy and the environment that combine technological, economic, and policy considerations. This is the third in the series so far. The full distillate can be downloaded here. --Photo: a plasma in the Chinese tokamak EAST

On 28 April, the ITER Organization signed a contract with the European consortium GNMS for the procurement of approximately 10 km of vacuum pipework, ranging in diameter from DN 25 to DN 250. The ITER vacuum system will be one of the largest in the world. Vacuum pumping is required prior to starting the fusion reaction to eliminate all sources of organic molecules and to create low density—about one million times lower than the density of air. The network of pipework will form one of the most extensive distributed systems in ITER, alongside cryogenic and water cooling systems. The contract signature marks a significant step forward for the ITER vacuum system.

Are you a university graduate who wants to gain international professional experience and contribute to the work of the European Domestic Agency for ITER? Or who is curious about ITER and simply wants to be part of one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world today? The European Domestic Agency for ITER is looking for graduates in engineering, physics, law, human resources, finance and communication for four to nine months beginning 1 October 2016. The traineeship program is open to university graduates who are nationals of one of the Member States of the European Union or Switzerland, who have at least a three-year university degree obtained within the last three years, and a very good knowledge of English. Traineeships are offered in Barcelona (Spain), Garching (Germany) and at the ITER site in France. The deadline to apply is 31 May 2016. Please find all information here.