From a height of some 50 metres, you have the entire ITER worksite at your feet. The long rectangle of the Diagnostics Building stands out in the centre, with walls that now rise two storeys above platform level. Concrete pouring is underway in the upper corner; while on the opposite side metrology teams are carefully verifying the precise position of rebar and embedded plates.   The circular structure of the concrete bioshield, to the left, is best seen from a height. The basement levels are partially hidden in shadow; the second above-ground level (L2) is not yet fully realized. In the foreground, hundreds of embedded plates catch the last rays of the setting sun—this is the location for ITER's giant neutral beam injectors.   Let's now move to the right. Partially eclipsing the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility (red trim), the metal structure of the cryoplant has received the first elements of its metal "skin."   Toward the end the cladding phase, the building will look like the Assembly Hall, with alternating panels of mirror-like stainless steel and grey-lacquered metal.   In front of the cryoplant, rows of concrete columns are now in place for the twin Magnet Power Conversion Buildings.   From the depths of the Tokamak Complex to the cabins of the tall cranes, more than 1,500 workers are now contributing to the construction of the ITER scientific facility. They are the builders of a world that has no equivalent elsewhere.

For five years, it has been a resource for the plasma physics community. The Helios supercomputer has performed complex calculations for plasma physics and fusion technology, allowing users to draw comparisons between current fusion experiments and run predictive simulations for future devices like ITER.   Helios has been in operation at the International Fusion Energy Research Centre (IFERC), hosted by the Japanese Atomic Energy Authority (JAEA) since late 2011. IFERC is one of the sub-projects of the Broader Approach agreement signed between Europe and Japan for advanced fusion R&D in complement to ITER. After a very successful operational campaign, Helios was shut down earlier this year. Read the full story on the European Domestic Agency website. --The Helios Supercomputer at the Computational Simulation Centre in Japan (Source: JAEA)

The European tokamak JET is currently in an engineering shutdown phase. But shutdown doesn't mean inactivity—scientists are currently reviewing the 2015-2016 experimental campaign and preparing for the next scientific program, which will include tritium-tritium operation followed by full fusion power experiments using deuterium and tritium in 2019. The JET remote handling team has taken advantage of shutdown to carry out a photographic survey of the vacuum vessel to inspect the condition of the wall, and to calibrate the detector that measures neutrons using the MASCOT remote handling system—a system allowing operators to undertake a wide range of tasks including welding, cutting, bolting, handling and inspection through a special manipulator that acts almost as the extension of an arm. Read the full report on the website of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE).