Divertor remote handling system.

The long concept preparation phase for ITER's high-tech divertor remote handling system has come to an end and industry is about to take over, thanks to a seven year, multimillion-euro contact signed between the European Domestic Agency for ITER and Assystem, a leading consultancy firm in engineering and innovation. Assystem and its partners will have the responsibility for the design, manufacture, delivery, installation, commissioning and final acceptance tests of the remote handling systems that will be charged with the remote replacement of ITER's 54 divertor cassettes.

Running toroidally along the bottom of the vacuum vessel the ITER Divertor acts as the Tokamak's exhaust system, extracting helium ash from the burning plasma. Due to the tremendous heat loads and magnetic forces that divertor components will face, replacement is planned dime times over the course of the machine's lifetime.