Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Image of the week | More cladding and a new message

    As the October sun sets on the ITER worksite, the cladding of the neutral beam power buildings takes on a golden hue. One after the other, each of the scientifi [...]

    Read more

  • Cryodistribution | Cold boxes 20 years in the making

    Twenty years—that is how long it took to design, manufacture and deliver the cold valve boxes that regulate the flow of cryogens to the tokamak's vacuum system. [...]

    Read more

  • Open Doors Day | Face to face with ITER immensity

    In October 2011, when ITER organized its first 'Open Doors Day,' there was little to show and much to leave to the public's imagination: the Poloidal Field [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion | Turning neutrons into electricity

    How will the power generated by nuclear fusion reactions be converted into electricity? That is not a question that ITER has been designed to answer explicitly, [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | JET completes a storied 40-year run

    In its final deuterium-tritium experimental campaign, Europe's JET tokamak device demonstrated plasma scenarios that are expected on ITER and future fusion powe [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

Regulator notes efforts on safety culture

Experts from the French Nuclear Safety Authority, accompanied by technical specialists from the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety, have carried out 15 on-site inspections since 2011 (here on 3 December 2015). On 5 January 2016, ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot and the head of the Nuclear Safety & Environmental Protection Division, Joelle Elbez-Uzan, presented an overview of the ITER installation's status to the ASN Board of Commissioners. (Click to view larger version...)
Experts from the French Nuclear Safety Authority, accompanied by technical specialists from the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety, have carried out 15 on-site inspections since 2011 (here on 3 December 2015). On 5 January 2016, ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot and the head of the Nuclear Safety & Environmental Protection Division, Joelle Elbez-Uzan, presented an overview of the ITER installation's status to the ASN Board of Commissioners.
The French Nuclear Safety Authority (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, ASN) regularly asks the nuclear operators in France to present an overview of the status of their installation in terms of nuclear safety and radiation protection.  This consultation is requested and carried out by an independent board of commissioners (le Collège). 

In this context, ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot and the head of the Nuclear Safety & Environmental Protection Division, Joelle Elbez-Uzan, met with the ASN Collège on 6 January 2016. They reported on the changes in project organization since the arrival of the new Director-General, the progress of the ITER construction site, and major future milestones.

The ASN acknowledged the efforts of ITER Organization to improve the monitoring of external contractors and to establish a safety culture since the previous interview of ITER management in July 2014. The ASN will continue to pay particular attention to these topics in the months to come.

Progress of R&D work with respect to safety was also noted, as well as actions that remain to be completed, in particular on detritiation. On the subject of radioactive waste, the ITER Organization is studying several options for radwaste optimization, interim storage, and cooling either in the facility or off-site; the Organization plans to submit the selected options to the ASN at the end of 2016. The ASN Collège has requested that technical discussions on these subjects be organized in 2016.

The ASN took note of project delays—some of several years—which so far have not impacted the safety of the facility. The ASN has asked the ITER Organization to commit to a new detailed schedule for reporting, in line with the revised project schedule.

return to the latest published articles