José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, strongly reaffirmed Europe's commitment to ITER as he visited the international project's worksite. President Barroso's visit to ITER was part of a tour of strategic projects in Europe aimed at fighting climate change and facilitating worldwide 'energy transition.' He was accompanied by French Secretary of State for Higher Education and Research Geneviève Fioraso.

"Eight years ago, along with President Chirac, I worked hard for ITER to be located here. The European Commission is proud to have believed in this project," said President Barroso as he stood on the large concrete slab overlooking the Tokamak Complex worksite where the ITER machine will be assembled. Mrs. Fioraso, who was visiting ITER for the third time in less than one year, said she too was proud 'that Europe had been bold and brave enough to launch into this project. "Europe is beautiful when it is audacious," she said.

"Europe's commitment and your personal support, Mr. President, Mrs. Minister, have made this great venture possible," said Director-General Osamu Motojima as he introduced the visitors to the assembled ITER staff. "At a time of economic hardship across the world, Europe has never backed away from its commitment towards ITER," he said.

Tokamak Building Progress

Following months of exchanges with the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) and its technical experts at the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), the hold point on the Tokamak Building slab (part of the Tokamak Complex slab) was lifted and pouring operations were allowed to proceed.

A 627-square-metre segment, adjacent to the Diagnostics Building slab on the north side of Seismic Pit, was the first of nine plots to be poured to complete the central area of the slab. The final foundation operations for the 400,000-ton Tokamak Complex will now be finalized and poured.

ITER Business Forum

The ITER Business Forum (IBF) concluded in Seoul, Korea on Friday 4 July after three constructive days of exchanges, presentations and one-to-one business meetings that all focused on encouraging enterprises to participate in the ITER Project. The event, organized from 2-4 July by the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI), under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP), provided companies with updated information on the project, procurement opportunities and procedures. Over 200 people participated from 117 companies; fully two-thirds of participating companies came from outside of Korea.

The IBF is an international business forum open to the industries of the seven ITER Members that has been held every two years in France since 2007. This year the meeting was hosted in Korea as the first IBF venue in Asia, with the participation of the French agency for ITER, Agence Iter France. Companies already participating in the project shared their expertise and experience. One-on-one business meetings were organized to promote networking among the participating industries and between western and eastern companies to explore opportunities for new business models and mutual collaboration. Participants had the opportunity to promote their company's technology in the presence of other leading global and local industries.

Central Solenoid Conductors

The first 5 of 49 superconducting conductors have been completed in Japan for the ITER central solenoid coil. The baton will now be handed to the US, which is in charge of the next leg in the procurement process … using these conductors to begin to manufacture the central solenoid.

The Japanese Domestic Agency for ITER is responsible for supplying 100 percent of the central solenoid conductors. The central solenoid is the centrepiece of the machine that will allow a powerful current to be induced in the ITER plasma and maintained during long plasma pulses. It will carry a maximum electrical current of 46 kilo amperes in some modules, over 20 years of pulse operation with 60,000 cycling electromagnetic loads. Six companies in Japan are involved in the production of central solenoid conductor.

The first shipment of five conductors left Kitakyushu, southwestern Japan, on 25 June. The conductors are now on their way to a factory near San Diego, California where the central solenoid components will be manufactured by a US Domestic Agency contractor before the completed components are shipped to France for on-site installation.

Conductor production will continue in Japan though 2017, with regular shipments scheduled to the US. As the first completed ITER components shipped from Japan, the central solenoid conductor shipment was an important milestone for the Japanese contribution to ITER and a big step forward for the project.

Diagnostics

Two additional Complementary Diagnostic Procurement Arrangements were concluded in Russia on 10 July for the delivery of diagnostic systems to ITER. Russian Domestic Agency head Anatoly Krasilnikov signed the documents in the presence of ITER Diagnostics Division head Michael Walsh, who told the Russian staff members and supplier representatives present that "without diagnostics we won't see anything in ITER. Diagnostics are the machine's eyes and ears."

In the scope of its commitments to ITER, Russia will manufacture 9 out of the 45 planned diagnostic systems. The latest signatures covered Edge Charge Exchange Recombination Spectroscopy and the H-Alpha diagnostic - both highly sophisticated technical devices designed for the measurement of various plasma parameters.

Power Supply Components

An important milestone was reached this summer for ITER's power supply components, with the successful completion of the Final Design Review for ITER's reactive power compensation and harmonic filtering system. This unique system, responsible for fast-acting reactive power compensation on the high-voltage electricity transmission network, will stabilize the power grid and provide the required quality of electrical power to operate ITER. Its main role will be to regulate the reactive power flow and control the voltage variation and current/voltage harmonic distortion of the 66 kV busbars in ITER's pulsed power electric network.

One of the largest reactive power compensation and harmonic filtering systems in the world, it will include three identical 250 Mvar units (at 66 kV and 50 Hz). The Chinese company RXPE (Rongxin Power Electronic) was awarded the procurement contract in December 2011, after the Chinese Domestic Agency concluded a Procurement Arrangement with the ITER Organization in April of the same year. The Procurement Arrangement covers system design, manufacturing, factory tests, inspections, delivery, installation, assembly and site tests.

At the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, an 80 Mvar test platform has been installed that will also serve to test Chinese-manufactured AC/DC converters. A type test of the single-phase thyristor valve - one of the main components of the reactive power compensation and harmonic filtering system - has been carried out to verify performance in accordance with the specifications of the Procurement Arrangement.

During the Final Design Review held in Beijing at the Chinese Domestic Agency from 30 July to 1 August, interface requirements were carefully checked and clarified, key electrical design parameters were evaluated, Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) and Site Acceptance Tests (SAT) were fully discussed, and site installation procedures and tooling were investigated. The ITER Organization technical team, including external experts, reviewed all of the documentation in advance before its official submission to make sure that the key points of the design were presented clearly and precisely.

"Thanks to the great collaborative effort between the ITER Organization and Chinese Domestic Agency teams, we have successfully finished the Final Design Review," said the review Chair Ivone Benfatto, who leads the Electrical Engineering Division at ITER. "We appreciate your effort and the extensive preparations for the Final Design Review. The work is challenging, but I believe that if we combine our collective wisdom we can achieve our common goal."

Magnet Components

The ITER Organization and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) have entered into a five-year collaboration to operate a new facility that will test the assembly of the ITER magnet components. The ITER superconducting magnets form the core of the machine. Supplied by six of the ITER Members - China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States - they will be connected to some 30 "feeders" that supply them with cryogenic fluids, electrical power and instrumentation. Delivered by China, these feeders must operate faultlessly in a very harsh environment, threading between the other complex systems of the Tokamak.

Once shipped to ITER, and prior to their installation into the machine, the magnet feeders and coil instrumentation will undergo several tests and the simulation of procedures in order to prepare for the actual assembly process. The facility will be located on CEA premises, adjacent to the ITER site and with a potential direct access to it.