Design and manufacture of the ITER Vacuum Vessel

The main functions of the ITER Vacuum Vessel (VV) are to provide the necessary vacuum for plasma operation, act as first nuclear confinement barrier and remove nuclear heating. The design of the VV has been reviewed in the past two years due to more advanced analyses, design modifications required by the interfacing components and R&D. Following the signature of four Procurement Arrangement (PAs), the manufacturing design of the VV sectors, ports and In-Wall Shielding (IWS) is being finalized and the fabrication of the VV sectors has been started in 2012.