In one of the videos on a continuous loop in the ITER Visitors Centre, Director-General Bernard Bigot introduces the fundamentals of fusion energy by saying: "The principle is simple..." On Saturday, as ITER's doors were opened wide to staff, families and the general public, some 700 visitors were offered a unique opportunity to see the simplicity of the principle—and the massive complexity of its implementation—for themselves.   DIFFER, the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research, had brought to ITER its Fusion Road Show—a stage-magic-style operation that explains plasmas and magnetic confinement using props like  a microwave oven, a horseshoe magnet, a smoke box, matches and neon tubes.   Brilliant, simple and fun, the show made a perfect introduction for what was to follow: a worksite tour that included a unique opportunity to view the ongoing operations in the Assembly Hall and, even more exceptional, a descent into the Holy of Holies of the ITER installation—the basement level of the bioshield where machine assembly will soon begin.   With the "simple principles" fresh in their mind, the visitors could now take in the sheer size of what it takes to turn them into reality. They had all seen ITER from afar, driving up and down the thruway or along the country road between the villages of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance and Vinon-sur-Verdon. Now, they were inside the project's most emblematic structure. And they could barely believe how massive, tall and unique it was.   At every stage of the visit, volunteers from the ITER Organization, the European Domestic Agency and from Europe's contractors Engage, Energhia and Apave provided the necessary explanations on the whys and hows of the project, answering thousands of questions and sharing their enthusiasm for this potentially world-changing venture.   Saturday was the 12th edition of the ITER Open Doors Day. And like all editions since 2012, it was a moment of awe and wonder for the visitors.    

Humans are visual creatures. By offering a number of highly visual table top experiments, the Fusion Road Show illustrated that "seeing is believing" when it had its debut at ITER's Open Doors Day, explaining the fundamental aspects of fusion to curious visitors. On a table behind ITER's Visitors Centre, a bright glow starts up inside a household microwave oven. "What you see here is not fire," explains Gieljan de Vries from the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER) to the small crowd that has assembled. "The glow comes from a hot gas, a plasma."   De Vries created the plasma by putting burning toothpicks under a laboratory beaker and heating the air inside the beaker with microwaves for about 15 seconds. With this simple set-up, he explained the fundamentals of plasma, the fourth state of matter, as the environment that hosts fusion reactions. He also illustrated the efficiency of microwaves in their capacity to heat a plasma—one of the essential mechanisms ITER will use to reach the temperatures necessary for fusion reactions to take place.   The masterpiece: de Vries demonstrates how to manipulate the shape and spatial position of a plasma with a magnet. The experiment is part of the Fusion Road Show, an entertaining yet educational theatrical show which was developed by DIFFER to increase awareness about nuclear fusion and its potential to create clean, safe and abundant energy for future generations. Visitors at ITER's Open Doors Day saw a custom-made version of the Road Show, which highlights some of the key principles behind the functioning of a fusion reactor—the creation and heating of a plasma, and its magnetic confinement.   De Vries went on to demonstrate the principle of magnetic confinement as a method to keep a hot plasma from touching the walls of the surrounding chamber. With impressive dexterity, he twirled a magnetic spinning top above a magnetic base. As if by magic, the spinning top levitated in the air and, briefly, kept spinning. With this relatively simple illustration of magnetic forces de Vries had the audience at his fingertips and ready for the final show piece.   Spreading the word about fusion In the nearly twenty years of its existence, the DIFFER Fusion Road Show has reached tens of thousands of people—mostly students at high schools and universities—with its educational message about nuclear fusion as a potential future energy source. Gieljan de Vries, a science communicator with a physics background, is using the Fusion Road Show not solely as an instrument of information. The show's aim is also to engage with the audience in a wider dialogue about the future of energy and energy research. Six hundred volts of electrical power were applied to a clear quartz tube, from which the air had been pumped out to create a low-density environment. The result was immediately visible to onlookers as the gas inside ionized and a purple plasma sprang up. But that was not the final attraction. Holding a large horseshoe-shaped magnet close to the tube, de Vries demonstrated how a plasma can be magnetically manipulated in space. In the tube, the reaction of the plasma to the magnet was clearly visible: it changed colour to an orange hue, and its position shifted in the tube.   For the audience, the compact Fusion Road Show proved to be a perfect fusion crash course, preparing them for their tour of the ITER worksite. Armed with a wealth of information about the ITER Project and the visual impressions of the show, visitors then went to see for themselves where the full-size fusion experiment will take place.   

A strangely shaped vehicle, the size of a toaster, confidently trudges along a curved line until it reaches a bright blue tablet resembling a bar of soap. It lifts the module carefully and gently places it in the "workshop"—a container no larger than a shoe box. It then turns with purpose and heads dutifully back to the retrieve the next module, red this time. This scene was repeated dozens of times on 24 May, as 64 teams (600 students) competed in the seventh annual ITER Robots contest in a high school gymnasium near ITER.   Students came together to compete in one of four challenges—each one requiring that a robot, made from scratch and programmed by the team—carry out an ITER-like robotic activity. Mimicking the bus-size remote handling containers that will operate inside of the Tokamak Building during the deuterium-tritium phase, the student robots had to follow precise trajectories ("Ways"), deliver "components" to the maintenance area ("Transport"), recognize the correct item to be transported ("Pick'n Place"), and master recognition and delivery tasks ("Cooperate"). The same skills that have been required for ITER's robotic systems—creative thinking, technical skills, tenacity, resourcefulness and imagination—were demonstrated by the students, who had worked six months to prepare.   Getting ready in the test zone for the Cooperate challenge with students from Collège Jean Bernard (Salon-de-Provence). ITER Robots was conceived by Agence Iter France, and has been held annually since 2012 in partnership with Aix-Marseille academy, ITER Organization and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA); this year's event also received the support of local industry, with representatives from the Arianne Group, Cyclyum and Cyberia displaying their own robotic innovations.   The competition places some of ITER's technical challenges into a broader educational perspective by using a playful approach for students. It is open to junior high schools and to secondary schools that are located in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region; soon, a junior version for primary schools will be launched.   The anticipation is palpable. Will the robot succeed in the Transport challenge? (Collège Giono, Orange) Jean-Pierre Martins, a remote handling engineer at ITER who was involved in the creation of the initial challenge and has served as president of the scientific jury, observed: "ITER Robots is in the spirit of what we will have to do at ITER. It is on a different scale, but it has the same objective: learning how to overcome first-of-kind challenges with creative ideas, a collaborative approach and good project management skills."   The robots created for the competition may seem like toys, but they should not be taken lightly. Their creators, their ideas and skills, will be needed to make the complex projects of the future a success. Congratulations to all the teams for their participation!   Click here to watch a video (in French) on the preparation of ITER Robots 2018.

Click for the _Do_Photobook_Eng_small.pdf_DoX_English_Dx_ and _Do_Photobook_Fr_small.pdf_DoX_French_Dx_ editions. Every year since 2014, the ITER Organization has been publishing a photobook that aims to encapsulate the progress accomplished in building construction and component fabrication and to chronicle the daily life at ITER. Over the years, the US, Korean and Japanese Domestic Agencies have published their own editions, adding several pages to the sections on their procurement contributions. (See them in ITER Publications/brochures.)   The 2017 edition of the ITER photobook came out in January of this year. It can now be downloaded in the form of two smaller-format, almost pocket-size versions (180 x 135 mm)—one in English, one in French.  

The first plasma pulse for almost 18 months took place inside of the JET tokamak in early May. The machine—the largest and most powerful tokamak in operation today—has been undergoing a revamp to act as a testbed for ITER technologies and plasma operating scenarios. JET is now equipped with an ITER-like beryllium and tungsten wall to study material-plasma interactions, additional heating power, and the ability to handle tritium. Experiments with tritium at JET—the first since the 1990s—will act as an important "dress rehearsal" in preparation for fusion operation at ITER. Although not a full fusion plasma, achieving the 1.2 mega amp pulse is a key part of completing the JET restart and getting ready for further commissioning of the machine. The first experiments are expected to take place this year. Read the full article on the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy's website.

"Clean Energy for all Europeans" is the theme of this year's Sustainable Energy Week. Over 3,000 politicians, stakeholders, civil society representatives and the media will gather in Brussels from 4-8 June to share ideas and look for solutions to address Europe's future energy needs. The ITER Project, which aims at complementing, globally, renewable energy sources with clean, safe and abundant fusion energy, is the focus of an afternoon session on 7 June. Titled "ITER and fusion: towards a new source of energy on Earth," the event is specifically geared towards the interested non-specialist public. Representatives of the European Commission, ITER, EUROfusion and Fusion for Energy will introduce ITER as one of the most important global energy projects, its vital role in securing mankind's future energy supply and the current status of its construction. A wide range of events, meetings and activities provide many occasions to get updates on matters related to sustainable energy including e-mobility, energy transition in urban spaces, innovative technology and energy efficiency for industry. At the networking village visitors can enjoy an energy fair, energy talks on topics related to the clean energy transition and an energy lab where ten projects will pitch in front of a panel of experts. For more information on the Sustainable Energy Week, and to register, please visit the website.