As the massive ring-shaped coil inched its way from the Poloidal Field Coils Winding Facility, where it was manufactured, to the storage facility nearby where it will remain until the moment it is transferred to the Tokamak assembly pit, Pierre Gavouyère-Lasserre remembered a decisive moment, 10 years earlier in April 2014. In the vast, empty winding facility on the ITER site, Fusion for Energy, the European Domestic Agency for ITER with responsibility for procuring the five largest ring-shaped superconducting magnets, had organized the "Poloidal Field Coils Information Days." Pierre, currently the Deputy Project Manager for poloidal field coils at Fusion for Energy, helped to present upcoming calls for tender to several dozen European industry representatives who were interested in taking on the challenge. This week, he watched with emotion as the formidable industrial venture launched ten years earlier came full circle: poloidal field coil #3 (PF3)—the final poloidal field coil produced for the ITER machine, was now safely stored next to its quasi twin PF4 and the smaller PF2. The fabrication of PF3—one of the two largest ring-shaped coils, measuring 24 metres in diameter—marked the high point of technical and organizational expertise that had been accumulated since manufacturing began in the Winding Facility in late March 2017. The first coil to come off the production line in 2021 (PF5) had required three and half years of work. Although 40% larger and wound with 22% more superconducting cable, PF3 was finalized in two years and 9 months—a 15-month gain in fabrication time. However spectacular, the operation on Tuesday felt almost routine: three self-propelled modular transport platforms, each equipped with a 180 kW power pack, worked in perfect coordination to move the 375-tonne component, carefully wrapped in protective plastic, to the storage building. The ride from the Winding Facility to the storage area was short—less than 45 minutes, including the traditional photo session to immortalize both the event and the great human and technological adventure it represented. For all those present, whether associated with the ITER Organization, Fusion for Energy, or any of the half-dozen contracting companies whose name was inscribed on the coil's protective wrapping, it was a moment of legitimate pride. Few industrial ventures compare to the making, in record time, of first-of-a-kind components of such size and complexity. See this report on the Fusion for Energy website. Six ring-shaped poloidal field coils are situated outside of the toroidal field magnet structure to shape the plasma and contribute to its stability by "pinching" it away from the walls. The two bottom coils, PF6 and PF5, have already been lowered into the Tokamak assembly pit. For all those present, whether associated with the ITER Organization, Fusion for Energy, or any of the half-dozen contracting companies whose name was inscribed on the coil's protective wrapping, it was a moment of legitimate pride. Few industrial ventures compare to the making, in record time, of first-of-a-kind components of such size and complexity. See this report on the Fusion for Energy website.

Like a plume of white smoke rising from a cardinals' conclave to announce the election of a new pope, the tenuous vapour coming from one of the ITER cooling cells brings good news to the project. The white "smoke" (which is not smoke at all, but water vapor), indicates that the helium compressors inside the cryoplant are running and that the heat they generate is being properly evacuated by the interconnected cooling water and heat rejection systems. Of the 18 megawatt-class compressors tasked to deliver gaseous helium to the cold boxes, only a few are currently being tested. In the coming weeks, more will come on line and a peak 25 MW of heat will be evacuated. The vapour plume marks an important moment in the journey that brought together the ITER Organization, ITER India and industrial partners, and that began in 2016 with the final design review for the cooling water system. This important system, once fully operational, will be capable of extracting up to 1,200 MW (peak) of heat generated by the installation's industrial infrastructure and plasma experiments. The ITER cooling water and heat rejection systems recently entered routine operation and are now ready to support the plant system processes that require continuous water cooling for their commissioning.  It is an important step celebrated by all those who had a part in the challenge. "We are proud today to share the success story of moving from an engineering model to reality," explain Pierre Yves Tavennec and Thomas Pralus, ITER cooling water system commissioning engineers. "The way to the cryoplant operational acceptance testing phase is now open," says David Grillot, deputy head of the ITER Plant System Program. "The goal will be to demonstrate that the refrigeration system that feeds cooling fluids to the clients inside the tokamak will reach performance requirements." Cryogenic cooling fluid production will begin as early as next year in service of both the magnet cold test facility and the smaller cryopump test facility, whose main elements are already in place in the cryoplant.

The global players in the energy sector convened in Rotterdam last week for the 26th edition of the World Energy Congress (WEC). The venue was well chosen, with Rotterdam being the largest seaport in Europe, its massive refineries, giant cranes and windmills shaping a spectacular skyline. With more than 100 million tonnes of crude oil transiting per year through Rotterdam, the city is also by far the largest petroleum trading place in Europe; it is also an important hub for natural gas. Fossil fuels certainly still played a dominant role at this "big show," as John Gorman, President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association, put it. But times are changing. And so while big oil- and gas-producing countries still dominated the scene in the exhibition hall of Rotterdam's congress centre, the talks on the various stages were clearly oriented towards transformative technologies, new clean fuels, the potential of artificial intelligence and the role of nuclear energy in the future energy mix. The ITER exhibition booth at the 26th edition of the World Energy Congress in Rotterdam. "I think I can say we have consensus that we need to accelerate the deployment of nuclear," said Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency. A statement that was supported by the Deputy Director General of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission CEA, Laurence Piketty. "But for that we have to build up a workforce," Piketty said. At the moment, CEA is training 3,000 young people per year. "In order to comply with the need, we will have to increase this number to 10.000 per year," she stressed.  ITER itself did not have a speaking role at this edition of WEC, but fusion is definitely appearing on the radar of the energy sector. Not only was fusion's vast potential and the important role of the ITER Project for the development of the technology brought up by panelists in several sessions, the interest in the project was also very tangible at the ITER exhibition booth.   

The EU Blueprint for Fusion Energy workshop, convened by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, brought together key stakeholders in the field of fusion in Strasbourg on 23 April 2024. In her opening address, Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, said that "the time is right to discuss what a possible EU fusion strategy could look like." She underscored the significance of ITER as a flagship fusion project, stressed the importance of international collaboration in advancing fusion as an energy source, and highlighted the European Union's leading role in shaping a regulatory framework for fusion. Representatives from fusion organizations, nuclear safety regulators, and fusion startups engaged in comprehensive discussions on the current status of fusion within the European Union and strategies to accelerate its advancement. Topics ranged from increasing investment in fusion R&D, to fostering innovation and crafting regulatory frameworks for fusion facilities. The imperative of strengthening collaboration among startups, research institutions, and industry players resonated widely. Maroš Šefčovič, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, highlighted in his concluding address the role of fusion energy as a potential game-changer for achieving climate neutrality. To reach this, he also stressed the need for enhanced collaboration between the public and private sectors. He proposed to establish a specialized working group focused on regulatory issues, comprising representatives from the European Union, the United States, pertinent Member States bodies, as well as private sector and financial institutions. See this related report on the website of the European Domestic Agency for ITER, Fusion for Energy.

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching, Germany, have generated the ion current densities required for ITER neutral beam injection on the ELISE testbed—a negative ion source prototype that is half the size of ITER's. This experimental first is good news for the development of reliable, high-performance heating neutral beam injectors for ITER. The ITER heating neutral beams will play an essential role in providing power and current drive to the ITER plasma, allowing access to burning plasmas with high fusion power amplification factors.  ITER will be equipped with two heating neutral beam injectors (with a provision of a third injector) and a neutral beam line for diagnostic purposes. Image of the ELISE calorimeter taken with an infrared camera, measuring the energy content of the particle beams generated. The square cross-sectional area of the ion beam (1 x 1 metre) can be seen. The brighter the colour, the greater the incident power. ITER requires a homogeneity of 90% over the entire area, which was achieved in the ELISE experiments. Research is ongoing at the ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF) to develop the beam source and achieve the required parameters. One of the key parameters is the current density extracted through the multi-aperture, multi-grid accelerator system, with targets of 329 A/m2 when operating in hydrogen, and 286 A/m2 when operating in deuterium.  This also needs to be stable throughout the ITER pulse. The Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, in Garching, Germany, is the location of the ELISE (Extraction from a Large Ion Source Experiment) test stand, a key experiment in the development of the ITER neutral beam source, supporting the research of NBTF.  ELISE has operated a half-size ITER beam source since 2013, allowing modifications and experience to be passed to the NBTF and finally to the ITER heating neutral beams. Recent experiments at ELISE have focused on extending the pulse length for hydrogen beams, looking for a high but steady H- current, and stable and low co-extracted electron current.  Caesium evaporation, the key technique, is used both to enhance the negative ion production and to reduce the co-extracted electron current to acceptable levels (< 0.5 x jH- with H, or < 1 x jD- with D). How to achieve the optimum caesiation distribution has been a topic of research for some time. The experiments at ELISE have now produced the significant result of achieving the required current density in hydrogen for the first time (330 A/m2) over short pulses (<10 s), with nearly 90% of the target reached over a 600 s pulse. Ion current densities from earlier hydrogen experiments in ELISE for stationary (green) and short (blue) beam pulses as a function of the normalized radiofrequency (RF) power available for the ITER neutral beam injection systems. The new world record results are represented by the large stars. Negative ion current density is proportional to the radiofrequency power used to drive the source. However ELISE is only capable of delivering 75% of the value that will be available at ITER, making this achievement more impressive, and providing good confidence going forward for the NBTF and ITER heating neutral beams to deliver the required heating power needed for early deuterium-tritium operation and beyond. See the press release issued by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in English or German.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be hosting the Third Technical Meeting on Plasma Disruptions and their Mitigation at ITER Headquarters from 3 to 6 September 2024. The event aims to serve as a forum to help coordinate experimental, theoretical and modelling work in the field of plasma disruptions with special emphasis on developing a solid basis for possible mitigation strategies in ITER and next-generation fusion devices. Participation is aimed at junior and senior scientific fusion project leaders, plasma physicists including theoreticians and experimentalists, and experts (researchers and engineers) in the field of plasma disruptions. The deadline for abstract submission is 25 May 2024. See all information here.