System Concepts of Operation (ConOps) documents are used at ITER—and at other science and engineering projects—to provide information on the operation and use of the systems, focusing on modes of operation, operational processes and operator actions. At ITER, the accountability for these documents ultimately lies with Science, Controls & Operation, where templates are developed and maintained and where the process of creating the Concepts of Operation is managed. A lead author has already been designated for the majority of the Concepts of Operation that will be produced. Lead authors are generally system experts from Engineering and Construction Domains, helped by contributing writers and reviewers from a variety of other areas, including Science, Controls & Operation, and Safety and Quality. "The System Concepts of Operation are Level 3 documents in the Technical Baseline, underpinning information that will be part of the General Rules for Operation," explains Rossella Rotella, who coordinates their preparation. 'The documents start to have a lot of good level information when system passed the Final Design Review—that's when a robust version is expected. Then, they will evolve with complementary information until the Operational Readiness Review, when we expect to have system finally configured for operation." A few examples illustrate the purpose of these documents. There is a ConOps in preparation for the torus vacuum system that includes information on the way to pump down and maintain the system under vacuum in the vacuum vessel. The document provides information on how the system is configured to meet these key objectives and how the operator interacts with it. A second example of a ConOps is the one describing the operation of the Tokamak cooling water system, the primary circuit that circulates water in the vacuum vessel. Different configurations (modes of operation) of this system will be set to accomplish different operational goals, for example to remove heat and maintain the vacuum vessel within defined range of temperature, or to bake and to clean it. Basically, the ConOps defines how the system is configured and handled by the operator to accomplish these two objectives. "A Concept of Operation document not only provides information on system configuration for the execution of specific tasks, but it also provides information about operational interfaces," says Rossella. "Take, for example, electrical distribution or other site service systems like compressed air and secondary cooling water that are necessary for the continuous operation of the facility. Client systems depend on them. So, we need to know how to configure both supplier and client systems, whenever an operational client or the overall ITER facility executes a specific task for commissioning or operation purposes. Dozens of pages Other important topics that can be addressed in ConOps documents are scarce resources (the number of events or cycles that a system component can fulfill before maintenance become necessary), system operating ranges (the boundaries under which the system has to be operated), and information about necessary consumables, tools and aids in order to anticipate the materials and warehouse space needed for operation purposes. "Finally, in ConOps documents we must detail the number and expertise of the human resources necessary to operate the system--either sitting in the main control room, or deployed onsite for operational testing or calibration activities. This sounds like a lot of data, but we expect each Concept of Operation to be a few dozen pages, with descriptive and conceptual information and references to more detailed documents." Completing the documents Two drivers motivate the completion of the Concepts of Operation. The first is the system development schedule, as mature documents are expected at the Final Design Review and a complete as-is version at the turnover of systems to operation. The second driver is the preparation of the "General Rules for Operation" (Règles Générales d'Exploitation), a licensing document for the French nuclear safety regulator. The target is to prepare the 'General Rules' one year before the closure of the ITER cryostat. "Preparation for the ConOps documents began in 2020; now, they are in mass production with good progress—70% complete overall for systems that passed the Final Design Review. The target is to reach 100% by the end of 2022 and revise and complete them in parallel with the systems development, towards turnover to operation."

Like so many visitors before him, a youthful-looking, middle-aged Korean man posed for a picture a few weeks ago at the foot of one of the 22-metre-tall sector sub-assembly tools (SSAT) in the ITER Assembly Hall. Something however set this visitor apart from the others. Back in 2006 as the Chief Engineer at SFA Engineering Corp., one of Korea's leading industrial automation companies, Kyoung Kyu Kim had been entrusted with a daunting task—to design the very sector sub-assembly tools now towering above him. After years of working with CAD designs, building a functional 1:5-scale mockup, and eventually overseeing the manufacturing of the actual tools at Taekyung Heavy Industries, Kyoung Kyu was seeing them for the first time in their natural environment. And although he knew them well, he was utterly impressed. Trained as a mechanical engineer at the prestigious Gyeongsang National University, Kyoung Kyu Kim had already accumulated, at age 31, significant experience in structural design and factory automation. The challenge he faced in 2006, however, was beyond anything he had ever anticipated. Of course, he was not starting from scratch—international ITER teams had been working on sector sub-assembly tooling since the mid-1990s as part of the Engineering Design Activities phase (EDA), with Russia leading the effort. When Korea joined the project in 2003, ITER Korea expressed a strong interest in ITER tool manufacturing and, together with the ITER Joint Central Team, soon produced conceptual design documents. A conceptual document, however, is not a 'nuts and bolts' blueprint. 'It's more of a concept for how the tool is supposed to operate,' explains Robert Shaw, presently in charge of coordinating ITER machine assembly and at the time closely associated with SSAT conceptual development. 'A conceptual document shows the geometry, the kinematics (the geometry of motion), the specifics for the weight to be supported and the precision to be obtained. But conceptual designs require quite a bit of fleshing out before you have an actual design document.' And that is precisely the job that was passed on by ITER Korea to SFA Engineering in 2006. 'No one had ever manufactured a tool like this, capable of handling and assembling with millimetric precision components that are up to 17 metres tall and weigh in excess of 400 tonnes,' says Kyoung Kyu Kim. 'The kinematics were extraordinarily subtle and complex. In order to position the vacuum vessel sector and the toroidal field coils, the moving parts of the tool needed to handle six degrees of freedom: up and down, side to side, forward and backward, plus rotational directions (swivel, tilt, pivot) relative to the axes...' Although far from being as sophisticated as the projected SSAT tools for ITER, the assembly tools used to assemble the Korean tokamak KSTAR, and to a lesser extent the European JET, had faced similar challenges. What was different here was the sheer mass of the components to be handled. 'A vacuum vessel sector alone weighs as much as a fully-loaded Boeing 747. This translates to an enormous stress on the structures.' From calculations and 3D models, a monster emerged: 22 metres tall (the equivalent of a six-storey building), 800 tonnes (the weight of a Union Pacific steam locomotive), with legs as thick as a sequoia tree and 'arms' so sturdy and powerful they have to move on rails. No tool this size, not even in the shipbuilding world, and with such complexity had ever been manufactured. The challenge was both structural and functional and Kyoung Kyu Kim, ITER Korea, and SFA agreed that it was safer to build and test a model, one-fifth of the tool's actual size. By 2010, the mockup was ready and operational, and it demonstrated kinematics 'with no real feasibility issue.' The rest of the story has been chronicled in the ITER Newsline—from the progress of manufacturing at Taekyung Heavy Industries in the port city of Changwon, to the arrival of the first SSAT elements on the ITER site and the subsequent assembly of the two identical twins beginning in late 2017. Five years later, the SSATs have succeeded in the first steps of their immense task: a first 'module' was assembled in 2021-2022 and installed in the Tokamak pit last May;  a second one has recently entered the same process and should be ready by the end of the year. Seven others will follow the same path in order to complete the machine torus. For Kyoung Kyu Kim, designing the ITER sector sub-assembly tools was a defining experience and a lesson in determination that oriented his subsequent career. Through the company he later founded and heads—Mecha T&S Inc. (Mechanical Total Engineering Solution)—the 31-year old engineer of 2006 now works for Korea's nascent space industry, another way to contribute to the future of humankind.

Two EUROfusion grant programs aim to promote the education and training of a new generation of scientists and engineers in the fusion field. EUROfusion Engineering Grants (EEG) are open to early career engineers within three years after their Master or PhD (or six years if relevant professional (industry) experience can be demonstrated). They enable selected candidates to specialize in a EUROfusion-relevant engineering topic. EUROfusion research grants (ERG)—now renamed the EUROfusion Bernard Bigot Researcher Grants in honour of the former ITER Director-General—are attributed at postdoctoral level or equivalent to candidates who have defended their doctoral thesis in the two years preceding the submission deadline. Ten grants, for missions of up to two years, are foreseen for award every year. Both calls are open until 13 September 2022. Applications should be submitted via one of the EUROfusion consortium members (acting as employing institute). See all details here. See an article on the launch of the grants on the EUROfusion website here. 

Women in Fusion (WiF) is a new global platform for highlighting and encouraging the role of women in the field of fusion. This collaborative effort, driven by founding partners the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), ITER Organization, Fusion for Energy (F4E), General Atomics and EUROfusion, seeks to increase and promote the participation of women in fusion science, research, engineering and operations. Women in Fusion was established in 2021 after a successful webinar at the Fusion Energy Conference (FEC2020). The Women in Fusion website, which will go live at around midnight CET on 18 July, creates a space for sharing experience, networking and promoting events and policies aligned with the group's mission. Visit the website and join this week.