The clock is ticking for one of the most delicate steps in the fabrication process of the ITER Toroidal Field (TF) coils.

The engineers involved in ITER’s Remote Handling system face several challenges: first, they have to develop some of the most futuristic pieces of equipment that will operate using virtual reality and man-in-the-loop robotics; second, although ITER is by far the biggest fusion device, space is an issue because there is a lot of tooling which needs to be neatly installed; third, due to the levels of radiation in the machine, all maintenance needs to be carried out remotely and the equipment needs to fit for this environment; and last but not least, this is a community of experts entering unchartered territory. Nothing like this has been tried before.

The prospect of beating all previous records by delivering a piece of equipment that will push forward R&D is on its own enticing enough to get involved in a project. If one gets to be a pioneer but also has the opportunity to acquire know-how which could yield substantial benefits the temptation is even greater. Take for instance the beam source for MITICA, the second experiment of the prestigious ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility, which will help us to fine-tune key fusion technologies. It’s an invitation to make history in the field of negative ion beams.