Assembly of the ITER facility is a challenge that the industry and the research community had yet to tackle until now. Some of the heaviest components have to be positioned with the greatest possible accuracy (within a millimetre) to form perfectly leaktight environments.
Officially launched on 28 July 2021, the different stages of assembly have followed on from each other, month after month, at the ITER construction. The first component - the cryostat base - transferred in May 2020 into the tokamak hall was the heaviest at 1,250 tonnes, followed by the inner cylinder in August 2020. Two poloidal coils were transferred thereafter, the first on 21 April 2021 and the second on 15 September 2021.
The next stage will involve transferring the first vacuum vessel sector (600 tonnes) on 27 October 2021.