The ITER Divertor Test Platform, to develop and test the maintenance robot and remote handling operations, has been inaugurated in Finland. The facility hosts the first full-size prototype of the Cassette Multifunctional Mover. The Cassette Mover is required to transport ITER's divertor cassettes, each weighing 9 to 10 tons, along a complex path from the transfer cask to the plasma chamber.

A new supercomputer, optimized for fusion calculations, will be built in Julich, Germany. Dubbed the HPC-FF (High Performance Computing - For Fusion) will deliver computing power of about 100 teraflop/s. The construction is being funded through the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA).

The world's largest synthetic diamonds are being developed as windows for the electron cyclotron heating gyrotrons for ITER. Each window will be 1.1 millimetres thick and up to 106 millimetres in diameter. The development is a joint venture between the EU and Japan. Manufacturing is expected to start in 2011, with delivery in 2015.

On February 7, the ITER Organization signed a contract with the Chinese National Engineering Research Center of Converters to provide support for the design and installation of ITER AC/DC Power Converter Systems plant. Also in February, a group of experts met to review the design of the poloidal field coil, found it to be "sound" and said that it formed "an acceptable basis for the issue of the Procurement Arrangement which is expected to be signed in April 2009."

Representatives of the Australian scientific community and the government have expressed their intention to align their national fusion program to support the ITER program and are exploring the possibility of seeking to enter into a formal Cooperation Agreement with the ITER Organization. Formal participation would require approval by the ITER Council. The next ITER Council meeting is scheduled for June 17-18 in Japan.

For further detail, visit the ITER web site: http://www.iter.org and click on Newsline (on right hand side of page).