Design approach of the vacuum vessel and thermal shields towards assembly at the ITER-site

Abstract Recent progress of the ITER vacuum vessel (VV) and thermal shields (TS) design is presented. As the ITER construction phase approaches, the design of the VV and TS (in particular, the vacuum vessel TS—VVTS) has been improved and developed in more detail with the focus on better performance, improved manufacturing ability and successful assembly at the ITER-site. In addition to the design progress, the main principles and operations for assembly of the VV, VVTS and other TS components at the ITER-site are described.