Overview and status of the ITER project

The ITER project is a collaboration of 35 countries to build the world’s largest fusion energy device, to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion power at an industrial scale. Recent years have seen rapid progress in construction, manufacturing, and – starting in mid-2020 – assembly phase. Currently, above 75% of the overall work required to achieve First Plasma has been completed. On the ITER worksite, this progress is visible firstly in the completion of key buildings and infrastructures. The tokamak building was declared ready for equipment as of Spring 2020. Commissioning of the connection to the EU grid and the substation for the steady-state electric network is complete; and commissioning of other key plant support systems (e.g., cooling water, cryoplant, pulsed power for magnet systems) is underway.  

On the manufacturing front, the base and lower cylinder of the cryostat have been installed and welded together in the tokamak pit; the upper cylinder is complete and in storage. The first poloidal field (PF) coils were turned over to ITER; PF6 and PF5 have been installed, and four additional PF coils are completed or in advanced stages. The first two modules of the central solenoid were delivered, and five more modules in various stages of manufacturing. The first 10 of 18 toroidal field (TF) coils have been delivered to ITER site, starting in April 2020, and progress on the remaining TF coils is ongoing. The thermal shield sections have been delivered, and the lower cryostat thermal shield has been installed. The first vacuum vessel sector arrived onsite in August 2020, and was assembled together with two TF coils and a section of the vacuum vessel thermal shield, with tolerances of the order of half millimetre. It is now ready for being lifted to the tokamak pit. The second vacuum vessel sector is ready for pre-assembly. 

Highlights from each of these areas (manufacturing, commissioning, tokamak assembly) will be presented along with the updated status and plans.