Your academic and political work for the past 20 years has always been close to the realization of ITER. When you started as new ITER Director-General, were you fully aware of all the struggles you would have to face? For the August edition of Fusion In Europe, ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot was asked to comment on the "decisive and honest" piece that he penned for the scientific journal Nature on 9 June. Mr Bigot also discusses the present status of ITER, reflects on the changes he has implemented since he took up his position in March and addresses the project's most pressing challenges. Excerpts:   What motivated you to write such a decisive and honest statement about ITER's current status in the magazine Nature?   I was asked to contribute a comment on the present status of ITER. I am glad you find this piece "decisive and honest." That is what I intended. It is very important for me to respond to media requests. ITER is a complex project and needs to be explained to the public. When you explain, when you try to share your convictions and pre-occupations, you have to do it with absolute honesty. Honesty is in my nature, and as Director-General of the ITER Organization it is also my duty.   Your academic and political work for the past 20 years has always been close to the realization of ITER. When you started as new ITER Director-General, were you fully aware of all the struggles you would have to face?   I was aware of the difficulties the project was facing. But I would not use the word "struggle," which is a bit too harsh. Let's say that certain situations require more dialogue and concertation ... We need now to foster an atmosphere in which all actors feel personally responsible for the project, not just for their area of specific competence. All Domestic Agency heads share this vision. Now, the day-to-day reality is always slightly different from what you anticipate. Old habits die hard ...   In your Nature article we learned about the building of integrated teams as one of your first steps. How many teams are to be built and what will be their specific domains?   The creation of integrated teams, which we call "Project Teams," stems from the necessity to increase the efficiency in the management of critical technical issues. They should deliver improved communication, reduced paperwork, and elimination in the duplication of procedures and swift decision-making. Within their technical jurisdiction, they integrate all players — Central Team, Domestic Agencies and, if needed, representatives of industry — into a cohesive decision-making body. The first Project Team for Buildings, Infrastructure and Power Supplies (BIPS) is now operational. It brings together 38 staff from the European Domestic Agency for ITER and 27 from the ITER Organization Central Team. A Vacuum Project Team has also been established and will be followed by another for cryogenics. Only a small number of in-kind procurement items will require the establishment of a dedicated Project Team because of specific difficulties or complexity.   Continue reading the interview on the EUROfusion website.  

At the PRIMA neutral beam test facility in Padua, Italy, an ITER-scale radio-frequency negative ion source (SPIDER) and a full-scale neutral beam injector at full acceleration voltage and power (MITICA) will be tested to help resolve challenging physics and technology issues and validate concepts before the heating neutral beam system is built at ITER. Europe, Japan and India are contributing all components according to the specifications from the ITER Organization; Italy has constructed the facility as a voluntary contribution to the neutral beam development program.   In August, the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy reported that the first European component—a high voltage deck for SPIDER—has been delivered and accepted. (Last December, India reported the delivery of the SPIDER beam dump.)   The European agency collaborated with the Italian company COELME for the design, manufacture and installation of the high voltage deck, a mechanical structure that will hold power supply equipment weighing around 40 tonnes. The delivery and acceptance of the component marks the end of a four-month installation period during which each individual sub-component underwent verification before the final electric tests were performed on the ensemble.   "This is a major achievement," said Daniel Gutierrez, technical officer for the European Domestic Agency. "We are especially pleased because we have not faced any major problems during installation or testing and everything has been carried out in accordance with our planned time schedule. The HVD is now ready to host the ion source and extraction power supplies (ISEPS) which are necessary for feeding the ion source of the neutral beam injector."   The high voltage deck, which measures approximately 11 x 13 metres, is installed in a pit approximately one metre below ground level and is mounted on supporting insulators to withstand the high 100 kV voltage of the power supplies. The deck is covered by a closed aluminium screen that reduces electromagnetic interference which could have a negative effect on the equipment and the power supply.   The acceptance of the high voltage deck is not the end of Europe's collaboration with COELME. The next step is the SPIDER transmission line, which will connect the power supplies installed inside the high voltage deck to the SPIDER ion source and beam acceleration. Measuring around 30 metres in length, the transmission line will use unique double-screening sandwich panels which give extra protection against electromagnetic interference. Manufacturing is scheduled to be completed by November and site installation should begin before the end of the year.   Read the original story on the European Domestic Agency website.

A second trilateral workshop on ITER was successfully conducted on 20-22 July, with approximately 40 participants from China, Japan, and Korea at the Kansai Photon Science Institute of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in Kizu (Kyoto), Japan. The workshop not only aimed at the exchange of experience regarding technology and manufacturing of the ITER components, but also aimed at supporting the Central Team of the ITER Organization through close collaboration among the three Domestic Agencies for the success of the ITER Project.   A team-building dinner party was held at the start of the workshop with the participation of government representatives, who strongly encouraged further constructive collaboration between the three countries to promote and advance the ITER Project as planned. During the ensuing technical discussions, each Domestic Agency head provided a report on procurement achievements since the first workshop last year; this was followed by presentations and discussions on 15 action items concerning technical and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) issues in ITER components such as the blanket, divertor, Test Blanket Modules, magnets, the vacuum vessel, and diagnostics. The discussions were prepared in advance of the workshop through the close communication of technical responsible officers.   As a result of the workshop, the three Domestic Agencies have established a common proposal on QA/QC issues that they will submit to the ITER Organization Central Team, in view of enhancing relations as a single team. Technical collaboration among the three Domestic Agencies will also continue to prepare for the 3rd China-Japan-Korea workshop to be held in Korea in 2016.

​ It was arguably the scientific fraud of the century, but a hugely expensive failed project to create energy from nuclear fusion laid the foundation for Argentina's success in physic.   The ruins are ghostly, silent. The crumbling buildings and labs — hidden on an island that's drowning in a dense, green forest — look as if they are an abandoned villain's lair from an early James Bond movie. And in a way, they are a villain's making — they're all that remains of a top-secret project, 'Proyecto Huemul', which turned out to be one of the biggest and most expensive frauds in scientific history — and ironically also became the foundation of a scientific success story.   Tiny Isle Huemul, with an area of just two square kilometres, is covered in alerce trees; it resembles the head of a giant crocodile taking a snooze on a sunny August afternoon, poking out of the mesmerising deep blue waters of Lake Nahuel Huapi in Patagonia, amid the snow-capped mountains of the Argentinian Andes. Read the whole article on Engineering and Technology Magazine website.   Also in Newsline # 196

​The ITER International School (IIS) is an annual event jointly organized by the French Aix-Marseille University and the ITER Organization. The 2015 edition will take place from 14 to 18 December at the University of Science and Technology (USTC) in Hefei, China, hosted by USTC and the Academy of Sciences Institute of Plasma Physics, ASIPP. The primary objective of the IIS is to provide a regular forum for conducting a post-graduate training school in the area of fusion science for young researchers with a view to attracting them to participate in the scientific exploitation of ITER. The IIS will present the current and future scientific and technical challenges facing fusion science. The academic program of the IIS will be focused on a chosen scientific theme relevant to ITER and which may change from year to year. The theme chosen for 2015 is: Transport and pedestal physics in tokamaks   Previous editions have taken place in Aix-en-Provence, France; Gandhinagar, India; and Austin, TX, USA. For more on the ITER International School, or to enroll, please visit the IIS 2015 website.