The press forming was followed by heat treatment to relieve internal metal tension, machining, welding, drilling (hundreds of holes, at 11 hours per hole), and finally assembling and welding the four segments and set of ports that make up the finalized vacuum vessel sector.
ITER noted that two layers of thermal shielding are placed between the vacuum vessel and cryostat to reduce heat transfer from warm components to those operating at 4.5K, like the magnets. This setup decreases heat loads by over two orders of magnitude, ensuring the cryoplant can manage the residual heat with a practical capacity.