It all begins with a forged stainless-steel block weighing nine tonnes. As machining and deep-drilling operations commence, the rectangular block progressively loses heft and gains in complexity until, two years after entering the manufacturing line, the original piece of steel has been transformed into a highly complex component—a 2-metre-wide, 1.5-metre-tall, 50-centimetre-thick "shield block" weighing an average of 3 tonnes. In Korea and in China, where shield block procurement is underway, approximately 55 percent of fabrication is now complete. Inside the ITER machine, 440 shield blocks pair with 440 first-wall panels to form the blanket. Once attached to the steel vacuum vessel to tile its entire inner surface, the blanket modules will play a dual role: protecting the machine's steel structure and superconducting toroidal field magnets from the neutron flux generated by the fusion reaction, and transferring the heat that this very flux induces to cooling channels inside the shield block. In future fusion power plants, it is this heat that will initiate the electrical power production process. "The dual mission of the shield blocks, their equipment, the many interfaces they integrate, and the extremely harsh environment to which they will be exposed explains their utter complexity, both in terms of internal cooling channels and outer geometry," says Fu Zhang, the ITER Technical Responsible Officer for the procurement who has been involved in shield block development since 2003. "Their integrity and efficiency, along with the functionality of the diagnostics equipment they accommodate, must be guaranteed despite conditions that combine ultra-high vacuum, nuclear irradiation, heat loads from the fusion reaction, and intense electromagnetic forces due to transient plasma events." Added to these challenges are the more than one hundred design variations, which reflect the position of the individual shield block inside the vacuum vessel as well as the space requirements of interfacing systems such as plasma heating and diagnostics. "Executing the series production of such a demanding component is truly a world first. And we are succeeding!" After four years of virtual exchanges, the December 2023 shield block progress meeting at Dongfang Heavy Machinery was held in-person. From left to right at the factory in China are Ryan Hunt, Leader of the ITER Blanket Project; Frédéric Escourbiac, Deputy Head of ITER's Nuclear Technology Program; and Fu Zhang, ITER Technical Responsible Officer for blanket shield block procurement. Last December in Guangzhou, China, a progress meeting was held at Dongfang Heavy Machinery, the main supplier for the Chinese shield block procurement. The work session—the 81st since 2013—brought together Fu Zhang, Frédéric Escourbiac (Deputy Head of ITER's Nuclear Technology Program), Ryan Hunt (Leader of the ITER Blanket Project) and representatives from the Chinese Domestic Agency and the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP), which provides technical support. It was the first in-person progress meeting since pandemic-imposed restrictions in international travel. "This long-delayed in-person meeting really made a difference," says Fu. "After four years of virtual exchanges, we were able to really reconnect with our colleagues and the personal interactions made it much easier to understand one another." What the ITER team saw at the Dongfang Heavy Machinery facility was most impressive: "A forest of shield blocks at different levels of manufacturing maturity, which we could examine and touch," says Escourbiac. "It provided a tremendous boost in motivation. The components looked like ready to be shipped and installed." Had the team gone to EM Korea Co Ltd, where the Korean shield blocks are manufactured, or to Vitzrotech Ltd where they are tested, the feeling would have been the same. A little more than one decade after the Procurement Arrangements were signed in April 2013, series manufacturing of the first-of-a-kind components has now reached full capacity in both Korea and China. Out of a total of 220 shield blocks each, the first batch from Korea (90 units) should be delivered to ITER by mid-2025 followed half-a-year later by the first batch from China (106 units).

Collaboration, Accountability, Respect and Excellence drive the future of fusion for a diverse staff. When Pietro Barabaschi joined as ITER Director-General to lead the project through a challenging phase, a main priority he set early on was to create a culture that would unify ITER's diverse contributors and set a transformative course that would motivate and guide staff in their way of working together. An essential factor in creating a new culture is defining shared values. ITER's corporate values applied only to the ITER Organization and were no longer relevant for the current phase of the project. To define the new cultural roadmap, it was necessary to redefine the vision together with representatives from across the Project, taking into account the challenges of today. Director-General Barabaschi tasked the Internal Communications Manager, Shira Tabachnikoff, to collaborate with the seven ITER Domestic Agencies and select ITER staff members to develop values that would nurture a common culture.  She created an ITER Project Values Working Group that met several times to discuss the vision of the project today, the behaviours that would help overcome challenges, the diverse perceptions of ways of working, and most of all, the responsibility felt by so many who work at ITER to ensure a future with fusion. The pressure on staff combined with their strong motivation to succeed and contribute led the group to decide on four overarching values: Collaboration, Accountability, Respect and Excellence. Together these form CARE, a word that also reflects empathy and dedication. The group was pleased by the different levels of meaning that CARE embodies. "There were many discussions about the types of values and behaviours the project should embody—including a focus on technical and scientific expertise, innovation, and safety and quality. In the end, we agreed that many of the best engineers and scientists are drawn to the challenge of fusion and are strongly motivated to work hard and achieve success. To balance these ambitions, and ensure ITER is sustainable, we settled on the 'fusion' of the four values into CARE," says Tabachnikoff. The four values capture many aspects of the type of culture we aim to shape together. Collaboration, for example, is all about teamwork and building partnerships, working across silos and geographical distance. Accountability encourages transparency, sharing information and meeting commitments.  Respect focuses on the need to embrace diversity and inclusiveness, and ways to communicate under pressure while keeping cultural differences in mind. Excellence incorporates a strong focus on safety, quality, precision and high standards of integrity. These values are defined into behaviours in the newly revised ITER Code of Conduct. As Director-General Barabaschi noted to staff on the day of the launch, "ITER means 'The Way,' and CARE will be 'The ITER Way,' where ITER is not just the ITER Organization but also all those who take part of this project. The CARE values provide a common culture for the project, fostering a shared purpose that transcends cultural and professional differences. They establish an ethical framework that guides us in our everyday work at ITER, covering many behaviours that are crucial to our sustained success. I believe in the importance of each CARE value, even more so knowing that these were chosen by representatives from each Domestic Agency as well as by ITER staff from diverse sections and countries." Freshly launched, the ITER Project's CARE Values are at the start of their journey. Now come the next steps to build these values into the behaviours and mindsets of ITER contributors. A series of workshops with ITER managers and staff is planned where, together, they can define their own CARE "testaments," incorporating the values in work with contractors and in recruiting staff. New branding and collaborative projects will all come next. According to Tabachnikoff, one thing the ITER Project Values Working Group agreed on was that "we need to perform our work with care, we care for the well-being of our colleagues, our families and ourselves, and—very importantly—we care about the health of the planet for generations to come."  "It's a lot of responsibility on our shoulders, so we need to 'handle with care.' There is a lot riding on our work!"

Sitting at the very centre of the vacuum vessel, the central solenoid is a 1,000-tonne magnet made of six cylindrical modules stacked one on top of another. "Stacking," however, doesn't reflect the range, complexity and precision of the operations involved in assembling the giant component—the tallest and heaviest inside the ITER machine. The six modules required for the central solenoid (plus an additional spare) are procured by the United States and manufactured by General Atomics in California. Of the four that have been delivered to ITER, two are fully installed and preparation work is underway to add a third to the already 6-metre-tall assembly standing on its bespoke platform. Installing a 120-tonne superconducting module requires both heavy machinery and subtle adjustment devices. As the approximately 2.4-metre-tall components are positioned, any deviation from nominal would be progressively amplified as the assembly progresses. And the tolerance for deviation is low: no more than 20 mm for the entire 18-metre-tall structure once completed. In this quest for near-absolute precision nothing is trivial: the formulation of the concrete that anchors the platform plays a part, as does the way bolts are tightened. Last week, experts from the Magnet Project carried out the electrical site acceptance test for the busbar lead extensions prior to preparing their installation in the stack. However, for a time the module is slightly offset from the assembly axis to enable a series of delicate operations that need to be performed: creating the joints for the electrical lead extensions, welding the joint cases, and testing the high-voltage insulation of the superconducting joints before lifting and moving the module a few dozen centimetres into its final position. Last week, experts from the Magnet Project were busy with the electrical site acceptance test (grounding continuity, low voltage insulation resistance, high voltage insulation resistance) prior to preparing the installation of one of the helium-cooled busbar lead extensions that feeds 40 kA electric current to the magnet. In the coming weeks, the third module (wrapped in pink protective plastic to the right of the image) will undergo the same installation procedures.

The ITER Organization has opened its 2024 internship program with the publication of 60 offers on the ITER website. These opportunities are geared toward undergraduate and postgraduate students, with a broad array of topics across scientific, technical and support departments. Applicants must hold a passport from one of the countries participating in the ITER Project (the People's Republic of China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA).See this page to apply. The deadline for students to submit their application is 17 March 2024. Please note that additional internship opportunities will be launched in May 2024.

2024 IEEE Fusion Technology Awards will be presented during the 31th Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE 2025, Boston) to individuals who have distinguished themselves through innovation in any fusion approach that has shown significant promise or progress in the design of reactors or in the understanding of fusion plasmas. The awards each consist of a USD 3,000 cash prize, a plaque, and an invited talk at SOFE 2025. The nomination package—consisting of a letter describing the technical contributions on which the nomination is recommended and a current resume of the candidate—should be sent before 11 March to the Fusion Technology Committee Awards Chair, Dr. Carl Pawley (drcpawley@ieee.org). Other supporting endorsements are encouraged. Equal consideration will be given to innovation in all fusion approaches and outstanding leadership in the fusion community. For more detailed information on eligibility, basis for judging, the nomination process or a list of past award recipients, please visit the IEEE-NPSS website and go to the "Fusion Technology Awards" section. --The IEEE Nuclear Plasma Science Society (NPSS) Fusion Technology Standing Committee

There was a time in fusion history when one single man could be credited with inspiring the best part of a machine's design. French physicist Paul-Henri Rebut was this kind of a man. In the early 1970s, a little more than a decade after entering fusion research at France's Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), he was instrumental in building TFR, for Tokamak de Fontenay-aux-Roses, a Paris suburb where CEA was then located. For his colleagues, however, TFR meant Tokamak Façon Rebut, which can be understood as "Tokamak à la Rebut"... Operational in 1973, TFR was an ambitious and powerful machine that played a key role in exploring the physics and establishing the technology that made possible the construction of the "giants of the 1970s,"—the European JET, the American TFTR, the Japanese JT-60 and the Soviet T-15. The experience accumulated at TFR led to the first international cooperation in constructing a fusion machine, the European JET whose design, quite naturally, was entrusted to Rebut and his team. Last week, as the fusion community celebrated JET's accomplishments at the Culham Campus (UK), the 89-year-old physicist, introduced as "the inventor and designer" of the iconic machine, was greeted by a standing ovation. It is under Rebut's stewardship that JET produced the first-ever deuterium-tritium plasmas, a campaign that culminated in a historical 16 MW of peak fusion power. Rebut later piloted the ITER design activities (1992-1994), and well into the 2000s he was a familiar figure at ITER Headquarters providing advice and suggestions to optimize the ITER design. Photo: The JET project team in 1977: Paul-Henri Rebut (centre) and colleagues Alan Gibson (UK), Giulio Celentano (Italy), Ettore Salpietro (Italy), John Last (UK), Barry Green (Australia), Peter Noll (Germany), Jean-Pierre Poffé (Belgium), Ingevar Selin (Sweden), and Dieter Eckhart (Germany). © EFDA Read the full article on Rebut's standing ovation during JET's celebration day here.