ITER Project progressing well despite delays

The ITER Council recognized the extensive efforts made by the Director-General, the new management team, and the Domestic Agencies during the past eight months to improve the project culture. Joint IO-CT and IO-DA project teams have been created in areas of critical importance. The ITER Organization has conducted an in-depth bottom-up review and analysis of all aspects of manufacturing and assembling the ITER systems, structures and components through the completion of construction, assembly and commissioning. The Council acknowledged the much-improved understanding of the scope, sequencing, risks, and costs of the ITER Project achieved by this systematic and integrated analysis and review, resulting in an overall schedule through First Plasma. 

The ITER Council approved a schedule and milestones covering 2016-2017, and decided to conduct an independent review of the overall schedule and associated resources and to consider possible additional measures for expediting the schedule and reducing costs. The Council plans to complete these reviews and reach agreement on the overall schedule through First Plasma by June 2016. 

The Council said it would monitor closely the performance of the ITER Organization and Domestic Agencies in meeting the 2016-2017 milestones. The Council approved the re-allocation of the necessary funding, over a period of two years, to enable adherence to these milestones. 

The Council recognized, with appreciation, the tangible progress made during the past eight months on construction and component manufacturing. 

— This included, for example, construction progress made onsite by the European Domestic Agency, with the completion of the framing of the Assembly Hall and the platform for the first level of the Tokamak – as well as progress on magnets, neutral beam injector, remote handling, and other ITER components. 
— India has completed the fabrication, pre-assembly, and shipment of the initial components of the ITER cryostat, for subsequent assembly in the already completed cryostat building onsite, as well as the first cooling water piping for ITER’s chilled water and heat rejection systems. 
— Four US-procured 400kV transformers have been shipped and installed onsite, and the US procured drain tanks for the cooling water and neutral beam systems have arrived onsite as well. 
— China has completed the manufacturing and testing of the first batch of pulsed power electrical network equipment, and has reached qualification milestones in the manufacturing of magnet feeders, correction coils, and the blanket first wall.
— Japan has started the series production of the toroidal field coils. Full-tungsten prototypes of plasma-facing components for the ITER divertor have been manufactured and shipped, and required performance for ITER has been demonstrated.
— Russia has fully met its obligations for delivery of superconductor cable for ITER magnets. At Russia’s Divertor Test facility, high heat flux testing is also underway for divertor plasma-facing components from Japan, Europe, and Russia. Beryllium fabrication has begun, and the gyrotron complex prototype facility has passed its acceptance tests. 
— In Korea, manufacturing is ongoing for the ITER vacuum vessel and thermal shield, and design milestones have been achieved for many of the purpose-built tools ITER will need for assembly.

The Council took note, in particular, of the completion of superconductor production, which has been a coordinated effort involving laboratories and companies of ITER Members in 12 countries, with associated advances in niobium-tin materials science and the multinational harmonization of design attributes, production standards, quality assurance measures, and testing protocols. The Council recognized the substantial benefit this will create for all ITER Members, positively impacting the capacity for cross-border trade and innovation not only in energy industries but also in fields such as medical imaging and transportation applications. 

The Council commended the ITER Organization on its progress and the evidence of renewed commitment. 

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 that 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 is contributing 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), are contributing equally to the rest. The ITER Project is under construction in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, in the south of France. 

For more information on the ITER Project, visit: http://www.iter.org/.

The photo gallery from the Fifteenth ITER Council can be viewed here.

CONTACT

Laban Coblentz 
Laban.Coblentz@iter.org 
+33 4 42 17 66 17