Tritium Building
Final concrete pour and other updates
16 Oct 2023
Because most of its systems will only be needed when ITER operates at full nuclear power, work on the Tritium Building was put on hold in 2018, only to resume in the spring of 2021. Two-and-a-half years later, civil works and painting are complete at all levels from the second basement (B2) up to the third level (L3). Last week, the last "significant concrete pour" was performed at the uppermost level (R2) of the building to create a 60-centimetre-thick slab for the aedicula sitting on top of the building.
The last "significant concrete pour," on Thursday 12 October, was to create a 60-centimetre-thick slab for the aedicula sitting on top of the building.
In parallel, work was progressing two floors below at level L4 where coats of smooth, shiny white paint were being applied to the walls and to the 10-metre-high ceiling of the "vault annex." Like the vault next door, the spectacular volume of the vault annex (a combined volume of 40,000 cubic metres) will accommodate equipment for the tokamak cooling water and tritium breeding systems.
Paint work is progressing in the vault annex at level L4. This vast volume (40,000 cubic metres) will accommodate equipment for the tokamak cooling water and tritium breeding systems.