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  • The overhead crane will have a double role to play in ITER, first handling the machine components during the installation and assembly phase that begins in 2019 ... and then handling them again during the dismantling phase of the project.

    Strong arms for 1,500-tonne loads

    1,500 tonnes — or the equivalent of four Boeing 747s fully charged with passengers and fuel. That's what the recently installed Assembly Building bridge cranes [...]

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  • Beyond its symbolic importance First Plasma, scheduled for November 2025, will also be the occasion to test the alignment of the machine's magnetic fields and the operation of critical systems.

    First Plasma: 2025

    To determine the precise date of ITER's First Plasma, hundreds of engineers, technicians and schedulers worked for nearly 18 months to reconcile the latest inf [...]

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  • Nikita S. Khrushchev, physicist Igor V. Kurchatov (in the middle, with beard) and Nikolai A. Bulganin on 26 April 1956 in Harwell, the Holy of Holies of Britain's nuclear research. It was the improbable beginning to what was to become a "world fusion community."

    60 years ago: the speech that changed everything

    On 18 April 1956 a Soviet warship, escorted by two destroyers, pulled up to the dock in Portsmouth, UK. On board were two of the most powerful and enigmatic me [...]

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  • Doctor, mountaineer, navigator, Jean-Louis Etienne was the first man to reach the North Pole solo, over land, in 1986. In the Artic or in Antarctica, by foot, dog sled or airship, energy questions have always been at the heart of his preoccupations. © Francis Latreille

    Jean-Louis Etienne, polar explorer, on energy and ITER

    In 1986 Jean-Louis Etienne set out for the North Pole alone, on foot, from Ward Hunt Island in the extreme north of Canada—a voyage across the frozen Artic Oce [...]

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Mag Archives

Oct 2019#12

Aug 2018#11

Aug 2017#10

Sep 2016#9

Feb 2016#8

Aug 2015#7

Mar 2015#6

Nov 2014#5

Aug 2014#4

May 2014#3

Feb 2014#2

Dec 2013#1

ITER MAG 9

Aug 2016

Mega contract to manage assembly and installation

The ITER Tokamak, with its one million components and ten times as many individual parts—is without a doubt the most complex machine ever designed.

A mega contract for assembly-phase construction management was signed on 27 June 2016 by (left to right) Jo Jik-Lie, president of KEPCO's nuclear division; Clive White, president of Amec Foster Wheeler's Clean Energy business; Bernard Bigot, ITER Director-General; and Stephane Aubarbier, vice president of Assystem. (Click to view larger version...)
A mega contract for assembly-phase construction management was signed on 27 June 2016 by (left to right) Jo Jik-Lie, president of KEPCO's nuclear division; Clive White, president of Amec Foster Wheeler's Clean Energy business; Bernard Bigot, ITER Director-General; and Stephane Aubarbier, vice president of Assystem.
Whereas space rockets, interplanetary probes and nuclear submarines all rely on techologies that have been tried and tested by industry, ITER will be built with a number of first-of-a-kind technologies, or technologies that will be pushed to operate at the very limit of feasibility.  

Rarely in industrial history have the requirements for precision and quality been as demanding. In ITER, errors of even millimetres can not be tolerated.

The size and weight of the major components, the tiny tolerances and careful handling required for the assembly of huge and unique systems, the diversity of manufacturers, the tight schedule ... all of these elements combine to make ITER assembly an engineering and logistics challenge of enormous proportions.

In order to ensure that the services, systems and processes are in place for the to-standard assembly of the first-of-a-kind ITER Tokamak and supporting plant systems, the ITER Organization awarded a EUR 174 million construction management contract on 27 June 2016 to the MOMENTUM joint venture, led by Amec Foster Wheeler (UK) in partnership with Assystem (France) and KEPCO Engineering and Construction (Korea).

Some 2,000 workers are expected on site during the peak of assembly and installation activities.