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“The vacuum vessel sectors are absolutely amazing in real life,” says Kevin Ferencz, 17, an aspiring plasma physics student who travelled from Hungary with his family just for the ���ߺ��� event. “This project is the future and it’s great to see it with my own eyes.”

���ߺ��� Open Doors Day has been organized since 2011 and has become so popular it is now held twice a year. The free tickets for this weekend’s event were snapped up in less than two hours and, in the end, 626 people were able to visit the Tokamak Building and the Assembly Hall on either a French or English guided tour.

“Sometimes there is a sense of mystery behind ���ߺ���, so it’s the perfect chance for people to see what we’re doing and meet everybody who’s working hard to bring this project to reality,” says Julie Marcillat, ���ߺ���’s local outreach coordinator, who has been organizing the event since 2013.

Personnel from across the ���ߺ��� site—from security officers to canteen staff to worksite coordination staff—were mobilized for the event and 73 ���ߺ��� volunteers were on hand to welcome and guide visitors. Participants were treated to various science demonstrations and interactive exhibitions, including a do-it-yourself electromagnet workshop by the local chapter of the Les Petits Débrouillards tech education association and a series of plasma experiments set up by a group of fusion enthusiasts who have been dubbed “the plasma punks.”

Beyond the colossal scale of ���ߺ���, visitors were also impressed by the promise the project holds for future generations.

“I work in sustainable development, and what interests me is clean energy and future energy sources,” says Danusa Janel, who took one of the French tours in the afternoon with her family. “I may not be around when fusion energy is deployed on a large scale but today, I am happy that my daughters and I can come and witness a project that is part of history.”