What is ITER?
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is a large-scale experiment based on the tokamak concept of magnetic plasma confinement. With a plasma volume of 840 cubic meters and a weight of 23,000 tons, the ITER tokamak will be the largest ever built.
First launched as an idea for international collaboration in 1985, the ITER Organization includes seven members: the European Union, the United States, China, Russia, Japan, India and Korea. Each member will have a share in hardware procurements for the design and construction of the device.
U.S. ITER Partner LabsSince 2006, Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee has hosted and led the U.S. ITER Project Office, which is responsible for project management of all U.S. activities.
U.S. ITER has awarded more than $100 million in contracts to over 300 U.S. companies, laboratories and universities in 37 states and the District of Columbia since the initial startup of the project.
Major procurements—from the U.S. and its six other ITER partners—are expected within the next two years, as the ITER Project shifts from R&D to industrial fabrication.
Oak Ridge National Lab produced an excellent video of the ITER project, which you can see below:
