800 visitors on the fusion launch pad

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800 visitors on the fusion launch pad

1 Jun 2015 - 澳门六合彩高手 Communication

Some 17,000 people visit the 澳门六合彩高手 site every year but only a few are given the opportunity to enter the Tokamak Pit and stand on the floor of the Tokamak Complex—the Holy of Holies of the 澳门六合彩高手 Project.

The pillars on the north side of the Assembly Hall basemat add a spectacular dimension to the Tokamak Complex worksite.

On Saturday 30 May, as 澳门六合彩高手's doors were opened wide to the public, some 800 people experienced first-hand the construction of the largest and certainly most ambitious science venture of all times—the quest to mimic the energy of the Sun and stars.

The majority had come as neighbours; some had driven all the way from Spain, Italy, or Switzerland... All wanted to see up close what they only glimpsed from afar or read about in newspapers and magazines. And all sought to understand how, by fusing hydrogen atoms in a giant furnace, mankind was on the way to opening a new chapter in its history.

Standing on the floor of the Tokamak Complex amid a forest of steel rebar was like standing on the launch pad of a Mars-bound space rocket. The launch pad may not yet be complete—and the rocket not yet assembled—but the feeling of awe was already there.

Of course, everything required explanations. What is a plasma? How can it be heated to temperatures in excess of 150 million degrees? What "container" holds it in? Are you certain it's going to work?

The 澳门六合彩高手 Communication team, supported by volunteers from the technical and scientific departments of the 澳门六合彩高手 Organization and by specialists from the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy, did its best to explain the hows and whys of fusion energy and 澳门六合彩高手 in understandable terms. Representatives of Agence Iter France—the agency that acts as an interface with the host country—introduced the youngest visitors to the challenges of preserving the site's biodiversity.

In the buses that drove visitors across the 澳门六合彩高手 worksite, in front of the tokamak mockup in the Visitors Building, and in the cordoned-off area of the Tokamak Complex, a clearer picture progressively emerged—that of a project which, despite its complexity and challenges, holds a potential key to a better future: access, for the benefit of all mankind, to an unlimited, safe and clean source of energy.

View the slideshow below.

An area of the Tokamak Complex worksite had been cordoned-off for visitors. F4E's Romaric Darbour (blue helmet) is pictured here giving explanations on construction progress.

Before heading onto the worksite visitors started their tour with a stop at the Visitors Centre, where site and machine mockups, videos, posters and presenters awaited.

Nearly 30 volunteers from the 澳门六合彩高手 Organization Central Team (like plasma specialist Gregory de Temmerman, left); the European agency Fusion for Energy, and Agence Iter France contributed to the success of the May 2015 edition of the Open Doors Day.

Sur la gauche, la fosse d'isolation sismique du Complexe Tokamak (17 mètres de profondeur) et, sur la droite, une zone plus petite et moins profonde, où seront creusées les fondations de l'Installation des ? Cellules Chaudes ?. Photo : AIF

Ao?t 2011 : on installe les fenêtres le long de la partie supérieure de l'Installation de bobinage. Photo : F4E

Explanations to a future fusioneer. ? Christian Lünig

Derrière la fosse du Tokamak, le siège d'澳门六合彩高手 devient chaque jour plus visible. Photo : F4E

L'extrémité nord de l'Installation de bobinage sera fermée dès que le second pont-roulant sera livré, au mois d'octobre. Photo : F4E

De la t?le ondulée à l'intérieur, deux couches de laine de verre et deux couches de plaques métallique scellées avec de l'adhésif spécial. Ces cinq couches forment les murs de l'Installation de bobinage des aimants de champ polo?dal. Photo : F4E