In a ceremony on 30 January, a major industrial achievement was celebrated in Japan—the completion of the first 360-tonne D-shaped toroidal field coil for the ITER Tokamak. This first-of-a-kind magnet will leave the port of Kobe in early March for an eight-week sea voyage to France. "I am deeply honoured to be here with you to celebrate the completion of this first-of-a-kind component," said ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot during the event held at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Futami plant in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. "As you know [this coil has been] years in design, procurement, production and testing. Congratulations to all who contributed to this major technical and human achievement!"   Eighteen "D"-shaped toroidal field magnets placed around the ITER vacuum vessel will produce a magnetic field whose primary function is to confine the plasma particles. The toroidal field coils are designed to produce a maximum magnetic field of 11.8 tesla and store 41 gigajoules of energy. Weighing 360 tonnes each, and measuring 9 x 17 m, they are among the largest components of the ITER machine.   The technical specifications of the coils were transferred by the ITER Organization to the procuring Domestic Agencies through Procurement Arrangements in 2008. Since then, ITER Japan (nine toroidal field coils plus all coil cases) and Europe's Fusion for Energy (ten toroidal field coils) have selected industrial suppliers, completed design and manufacturing qualification activities for each fabrication step, and launched series production. What begins at the factories will be continued at ITER as—by pair—the toroidal field coils are interlinked with one vacuum vessel sector and vacuum vessel thermal shielding before taking their place in the Tokamak assembly pit. All toroidal field coils are expected at ITER by 2022.   Because the precision of coil geometry is critical to creating the magnetic field required for plasma confinement, any non-conformity of fabrication tolerances or assembly misalignments can result in errors in magnetic configuration. As a result, particular attention has been paid to dimensional control throughout the fabrication process—from the manufacturing of the core winding pack and case structures, to the insertion of the winding pack inside of the case, and finally closure welding and final machining.   Factory acceptance tests were completed on the magnet on 19 January 2020 with the participation of ITER Organization observers. Electrical tests, dimensional inspection, visual inspection and pressure drop measurements confirmed that the coil meets all technical specifications. The component will now be packed for international shipment.   Read the press release in English or Japanese.  

After nearly four years of deliberation, Brexit became a reality at midnight on 31 January 2020. Given that the United Kingdom is one of the 35 countries participating in the ITER Project, many are asking: what does Brexit mean for ITER? The answer is complex. No European Union Member State is currently a direct Party to the ITER Agreement; the official contracting Party is Euratom the (European Atomic Energy Community), represented on the ITER Council by the European Commission.   In withdrawing from the European Union, the United Kingdom has also withdrawn from Euratom. This means that, as with many other aspects of the UK-EU relationship, an 11-month period of transition has now begun, with the objective that both parties use this time to agree on a deal about their future relationship.   UK officials have made clear for many months that they would like to remain part of the ITER Project. For decades, the UK has been a leader in the global fusion research community. And perhaps more than any other field of advanced science and technology, research on magnetic confinement fusion energy has been a globally collaborative effort. One needs only to consider ITER's seven Members—China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States—to understand that fusion energy research transcends national boundaries, political differences, and traditional alliances. The dream of fusion energy, from the inception of ITER, has been "for the benefit of all mankind."   The question is how—what is the preferred mechanism for the UK to remain part of ITER? During the coming transition period, UK and EU officials will consider many aspects of the UK-EU relationship. Depending on those negotiations, the UK could seek to define a new relationship with Euratom, or the UK could seek to establish a different form of legal arrangement with ITER upon approval by the EU and other ITER Members.   For the immediate future, the guiding principle is to ensure stability in the best interest of ITER Project progress. The ITER Council has agreed that existing contracts, both with individuals (ITER Organization and ITER Project Associate staff) or suppliers, will be honoured. And, as Director-General Bigot has frequently stated, the longer-term hope is that the UK will remain in the project. The ITER Organization will be ready to support any such arrangement when the parties concerned have determined a way forward.

A new video series will take you closer to the people and the progress of ITER through regular installments. After decades of design, manufacturing, and preparation, 2020 marks the start of the assembly of the ITER machine. No longer is fusion energy some far-off dream in the minds of physicists; ITER brings fusion closer to reality now.   Every week, we'll explore stories of the dynamic progress of the ITER Project and the passionate people building it. Each episode will feature a different group working on a unique aspect of the ITER endeavor—not just the construction and the science, but the hard-working people who are bringing ITER to life.   Follow along on the ITER YouTube channel and all our social media accounts—Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Then go to SoundCloud to listen to the accompanying ITER NOW podcast, which contains the extended, un-cut interviews that do not appear in the weekly video.   Enjoy the videos in the series here. Listen to the first podcast here.   Stay tuned for a new episode every Wednesday. Thanks for sharing and subscribing!

Download or consult the latest edition of ITER Progress in Pictures.   A number of Newsline readers were unable to open the 2019 ITER Photobook from the announcement in their inboxes last week. The technical problem has been repaired. Please click on the hyperlink below to open or download the latest ITER Progress in Pictures.  

The European Domestic Agency is responsible for the fabrication of nine pre-compression rings (three top, three bottom and three spare). The first five have been successfully tested and delivered. At the top and bottom of the ITER machine, where the tapered ends of the toroidal field coil structures meet, large composite rings will be installed to help the coils resist electromagnetic forces during operation. These "pre-compression rings" will absorb any deformation or fatigue experienced during operation by the coils.   Weighing roughly 3 tonnes each, with an inner diameter of 5 metres, the rings are among the largest and most highly stressed composite structures to be designed for a cryogenic environment.   It takes a team! The fiberglass laminate used for the pre-compression rings is produced by Exel Composities in Finland, and wound and tested by the team at CNIM in Toulon, France. The test facility/tooling were procured by the ITER Organization through a contract with CNIM/Douce Hydro, based on a conceptual design by the European Domestic Agency. The first manufacturing steps take place at Exel Composites (Finland), where the fiberglass laminate used for the pre-compression rings is produced. The material is then delivered on spools (in lengths of 2.8 km) to CNIM in Toulon, France, where the team winds it along a helical circular trajectory and applies bonding tape between layers. Next comes curing at 65 °C, final machining and finally testing. The full process—now at maximum efficiency—takes a total of two months.   With six out of the nine rings manufactured, and five fully tested and delivered, the European Domestic Agency and its contractors are approaching the end of the multiyear project. The objective is to deliver the full set of pre-compression rings by mid-2020.   Read the full report on the Fusion for Energy website.

Academician Evgeny Velikhov, who was Mikhail Gorbachev's scientific adviser in the mid-1980s, is considered as the "godfather" of the ITER Project. The veteran fusion physicist who celebrated his 85th birthday on 2 February in Moscow, was instrumental in gathering support for what was to become ITER in both the Soviet Union and within the Reagan administration, where he had several high-level contacts. At the head of the nation's fusion program since 1973 when he succeeded Lev Artsimovitch, President of the Kurchatov Institute from 1992 to 2015 (and current Honorary President), and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Velikhov has received numerous national and international distinctions for his work. A key driving force for international collaboration on fusion, he served as ITER Council Chair during the technical design phase for ITER and again at the start of ITER construction from 2011-2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated the outstanding scientist on his birthday and noted his fruitful personal contribution to the development of the national Academy of Sciences and the Kurchatov Institute. Photo: Anatoly Krasilnikov and Vladimir Vlasenkov (Head and Deputy Head of the Russian Domestic Agency for ITER) presenting him with 3D glasses loaded with the most recent video images from the ITER worksite.

In the third installment of ITER Japan's manga series on the project, our hero Taiyô Tenno visits the factory where the first ITER toroidal field coil was completed and learns about the multiple challenges (including tooling, welding, testing, level of precision, and materials) that had to be overcome. A timely addition to the series, which can be downloaded from the ITER Japan website here or directly from the ITER Publications gallery (comics).