For joining the e-conference  click on this link : WEBEX

This conference will be held in  English – You will be able to intervene in French

In recent years, rapid advances in fusion research, driven by both private investment and growing global concern over climate change, have generated renewed optimism.

Fusion has long been regarded as the ultimate solution to humanity’s energy needs, a virtually inexhaustible, low-carbon source of power for millennia. While this optimism is a strong driver of investment and engagement, it may also obscure the scale of the technical and financial challenges that remain.

Unrealistic expectations risk leading not only to disappointment but also to an erosion of public and political confidence, which is essential, including in the context of negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework. This could, in turn, slow the very progress we seek to accelerate.

As the world’s largest and most ambitious fusion energy experiment, ITER is designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of burning‑plasma operation at a scale never achieved before.

Conceived as a multinational collaboration involving 35 countries, ITER brings together the most advanced fusion technologies, the most complex cryogenic and superconducting systems ever built, and a global supply chain spanning three continents.

Fusion For Energy (F4E), based in Barcelona, is entrusted with implementing the EU’s contribution to the ITER project.

After many years marked by significant performance challenges and organizational inefficiencies, the project underwent major governance and management reforms in 2023. These changes have profoundly strengthened project execution, coordination, and accountability. As a result, ITER is now performing markedly better and demonstrating a level of schedule stability unprecedented in its recent history.

ITER is entering a decisive phase, marked by significant technical progress, an increasingly well‑defined schedule, and strong performance against the project’s new baseline. Two years after its approval, ITER is operating with a schedule performance index above 1, an indication of steady recovery, disciplined planning, and improved predictability across all major work packages.

The presentation will provide an up‑to‑date overview of the status of construction, manufacturing, and assembly across key ITER systems, magnets, vacuum vessel sectors, cryogenics, plasma heating, and diagnostics. It will highlight recent milestones achieved by the ITER Organization and the Domestic Agencies including F4E, as well as the remaining challenges associated with integration, commissioning, and the path to first plasma.

Beyond the project’s internal progress, ITER’s broader role within a rapidly evolving fusion ecosystem has never been more relevant. As private fusion initiatives accelerate and national fusion programs expand, ITER remains a key scientific and engineering anchor point for validating burning‑plasma physics, demonstrating integrated fusion technologies, and establishing safety and regulatory frameworks.

The talk will discuss how ITER’s experimental mission complements the ambitions of next‑generation pilot plants, how it supports the fusion supply chain, and how it contributes to the international knowledge base that future commercial reactors will depend on.

In addition, the talk will offer a concise introduction to fusion science, its principles, its promise, and its global relevance, and will provide historical context on the evolution of the ITER Project itself. From the early conceptual discussions in the 1980s, through the design phases and international negotiations, to the major reforms that reshaped the project’s governance and performance, this historical perspective will highlight how ITER’s mission has evolved in parallel with the broader scientific, technological, and geopolitical landscape of fusion energy.

By situating ITER within both its historical trajectory and the contemporary global fusion context, the presentation will clarify how the project’s outcomes—scientific, technological, and collaborative—will shape the fusion landscape for decades to come, ensuring that ITER remains central to the world’s pursuit of nuclear fusion energy.

Do not hesitate to join us!

 For more information, please contact us by email: OSP-RD@ec.europa.eu