ITER project well underway

SAINT PAUL-LEZ-DURANCE, France (29 November 2012)—Convening for its eleventh meeting in the recently completed ITER Headquarters building in Saint Paul-lez-Durance, France, the ITER Council acknowledged substantive advancements in the areas of on-site construction and licensing, and the Members’ intensified component manufacturing activities. The Council also welcomed measures taken for stopping schedule slippage and for enhanced collaboration between the ITER Organization and the seven Domestic Agencies. A major milestone has been achieved as the decree authorizing the creation of the ITER facility has been signed by the French Ministry of Environment. 

On 28 and 29 November 2012, the governing body of the ITER Organization convened for the first time in the newly completed Headquarters building. The two-day meeting of the ITER Council brought together senior representatives from all the seven ITER Members—China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States—under the chairmanship of Dr. Hideyuki Takatsu (Japan). 

The Council noted the continued strong pace of construction activities at the ITER site including the completion of the ITER Headquarters building. Manufacturing of Tokamak components and supporting systems is underway in all the ITER Members, with the first completed components expected on site in 2014. 

Significant progress has been made in the manufacturing of ITER magnets. More than 350 tons of niobium-tin strand (Nb3Sn) for the toroidal field conductors have been produced by the six Members involved, representing 75% of total project needs and representing the largest-ever order of this type. Also, 65 tons of niobium-titanium (NbTi) poloidal field conductor (25% of project needs) have been produced by China, Europe and the Russian Federation. The ITER Council encouraged the European and Russian Domestic Agencies to work together to develop synergies in order to prevent schedule slippage for the manufacturing of the poloidal field magnets. 

During the meeting, the ITER Organization reported that 80 Procurement Arrangements have been signed to-date; a figure which represents 81.2% of the total in-kind procurement value of ITER construction. 

Since the last ITER Council in June 2012, the ITER Organization and the Domestic Agencies have concentrated on the realization of strategic schedule milestones. New corrective measures have been developed for critical systems such as buildings, the vacuum vessel, the cryostat, and the superconducting magnets. 

The Council urged further corrective actions to improve schedule execution and to seek further savings in order to respect the construction budget of the ITER Organization and Domestic Agencies. 

The Council welcomed the integrated project management approach proposed by the ITER Organization to enhance collaboration between the ITER Organization and the Domestic Agencies. “The ITER Organization and the seven Domestic Agencies have established a Unique ITER Team in order to cooperate even more closely for the implementation of ITER. This will in particular allow for jointly addressing the causes of barriers to effective cooperation. Further integration within the Unique ITER Team is key for achieving our goals and minimizing the total cost of the project,” stressed ITER Organization Director-General Osamu Motojima. 

Lastly, the ITER Council celebrated a major licensing milestone: the signature on 9 November 2012 by the French Ministry of Environment (on behalf of Honourable Prime Minister Ayrault) of the decree authorizing the ITER Organization to create the ITER Basic Nuclear Installation in Saint-Paul-lezDurance, France. The Council requested the ITER Organization to continue the negotiations with the NEA (OECD Nuclear Energy Agency) in order to have the ITER facility included in the scope of the Paris Convention, noting that this decision lies with the contracting parties of the Paris Convention. 

Council Members reappointed the Chair and Vice-Chair of the ITER Council and its subsidiary bodies, and thanked Professor Konishi for his contribution as Chair of the Test Blanket Module Program Committee for the past four years. 

BACKGROUND TO THE PRESS RELEASE

ITER—designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion power—will be the world's largest experimental fusion facility. Fusion is the process which powers the sun and the stars: when light atomic nuclei fuse together to form heavier ones, a large amount of energy is released. Fusion research is aimed at developing a safe, abundant and environmentally responsible energy source.   

ITER is also a first-of-a-kind global collaboration. Europe will contribute almost half of the costs of its  construction, while the other six Members to this joint international venture (China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA), will contribute equally to the rest. The ITER project is under construction in Cadarache, in the south of France. 

Photos of the Council Meeting can be found at: http://www.iter.org/album/Special/IC-11

More information on the ITER project can be found at: http://www.iter.org/

Contact

Michel Claessens

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