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The DIII-D tokamak team at General Atomics (San Diego, US) is celebrating a milestone this month—achieving, and passing, the 200,000th plasma shot since the device began operating in the mid-1980s.

“While completing 200,000 shots is impressive in its own right, this achievement is far more than a mere number,” said Dr. Richard Buttery, Director of the DIII-D National Fusion Facility. “Those shots represent steady, important progress on the road to fusion energy. Each one is a challenge solved, a question answered, a career begun or progressed, or a new technology proven. In a very real sense, the history of DIII-D is a history of fusion energy research, and we are very excited for what we have planned for DIII-D in the future.”

See the full DIII-D press release .

--DIII-D users celebrate as the machine reaches its 200,000th experimental cycle. (General Atomics)

Arriving at the French port of Fos-sur-Mer from Monfalcone, Italy, was only the first stage of transport for vacuum vessel sector 5. Next, it had to be transported by barge across the inland sea Étang de Berre (155 km²). The European-made sector successfully made the crossing on 11 October.

This month, ITER will be launching a new version of its public website. The change was compelled for technical reasons, including the need to ensure reliability for a website that has grown considerably over the past 10 years. The ITER Organization took advantage of the opportunity to update and modernize the design. Readers will see new branding, faster data retrieval, and a more dynamic interface. The navigation will remain similar to the existing site, for familiarity. Look out for the change on Saturday 19 October.

We look forward to your feedback at ITERCommunications@iter.org. 

The JT-60SA experiment has been by Guinness World Records as the world's largest tokamak, as measured in terms of plasma volume.

On 4 September 2024 the device, built and exploited by Japan's National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) in conjunction with Europe's Fusion for Energy (F4E), achieved a plasma volume of 160 cubic metres, exceeding the previous world record of 100 cubic metres. A certification ceremony is planned on Saturday 19 October at the Naka Institute for Fusion Science and Technology.

JT-60SA has been designed to support the operation of ITER by following a complementary research and development program, and to investigate how best to optimize the operation of fusion power plants that are built after ITER. Further details of its experimental program are explained in the .

-- Photo: Fusion for Energy

EUROfusion “Bernard Bigot” Researcher Grants (ERG) are awarded annually to promising fusion researchers at the post-doctoral stage of their career. Named after the former ITER Director-General (2015-2022), they seek to enable the development of innovative ideas and techniques through grants that cover part of the salaries of the selected candidates and part of the cost of their research activities and missions for a duration of up to two years.

Winners have been announced for the 2024 cycle, for research projects selected on the basis of excellence and novelty.

See the full list on the .