After Three Years, ITER Organization Begins Sector Repair

By Steven B. Krivit
March 25, 2024

The ITER Organization announced today that it has started to repair the damaged reactor vacuum vessel sectors. Assembly of the reactor core has been on hold for more than two years.

Three years ago, ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor under construction in France, failed a periodic inspection by ASN (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire), the French nuclear regulator. The ITER organization had not publicly disclosed the report or the damage. New Energy Times was the first to report that story.

A dramatic statement on the ITER Organization Web site, evoking a sense of science-fiction, introduces the news today:

Built up against vacuum vessel sector #7, the scaffolding reaches almost 20 metres in height and masks the massive component. Streaks of blinding light, filtered by thick, semi-transparent red plastic sheets, flash here and there—proof that in the ITER Assembly Hall, the repair campaign has begun in earnest.