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  • Thermal shield | Practising the embrace

    In the ITER Assembly Hall, fitting tests are underway on two outboard thermal shield panels. Once paired, the 11-metre-tall, silver-plated components will [...]

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  • Image of the week | This circle is for the ring

    Another concentric circle has been drawn at the bottom of the machine assembly pit, formed by the temporary supports recently installed for poloidal field coil [...]

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  • Feeders | Multi-lane thruways into the machine

    The ITER superconducting coils thrive on a simple diet of electrical power and cooling fluids. The industrial installation on site is scaled to provide both, bu [...]

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  • Cryostat Workshop | Top lid enters the stage

    In this vast workshop over the past five years, the different sections of the ITER cryostat have been assembled and welded under India's responsibility. The bas [...]

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  • Blanket first wall | Manufacturing kicks off in Europe

    For one of the most demanding technological components of the ITER machine—the first wall of the blanket—the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy made the [...]

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Of Interest

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ITER NEWSLINE -

The FAB Seven

The auditing process consists of sifting through documents, comparing sources, and requesting external evidence to ''make sure that Council can rely on the numbers that are provided.'' (Click to view larger version...)
The auditing process consists of sifting through documents, comparing sources, and requesting external evidence to ''make sure that Council can rely on the numbers that are provided.''
When Alice Peterson speaks of ITER, she sometimes says "they" and she sometimes says "we." Although an ITER outsider by definition, the Chair of the Financial Audit Board (FAB) sees herself and her colleagues as part of the team. "We're here," she says, "to help by bringing our experience to the project."

The mission of the seven-person Board (one per ITER Member) is to examine the ITER Organization's financial statements every year and to "make sure that Council can rely on the numbers that are provided."

For one and a half weeks, the FAB and their assistants have taken up their quarters in Room 22, on the ground floor of ITER Headquarters. The auditing process consists of sifting through documents, conducting interviews, comparing sources, and requesting external evidence such as exchange tables, vendor invoices, and bank documents to confirm revenue, expenditures and other financial data.

Auditors, however, are not mere accountants. "We're here to protect the ITER assets ... from furniture to money in the bank," says Alice. "We want to make sure that the public is paying for something that will or has occurred and that the governments' investments in ITER are properly used."

The FAB Seven: Francois Colling (EU), Tamara Vorobieva (Russia), Katsumi Nakajima (Japan), Alice Peterson (US), Ayyanan Ramaiah (India), Xiaoyun Sun (China), Hyuck Jong Kim (South Korea). (Click to view larger version...)
The FAB Seven: Francois Colling (EU), Tamara Vorobieva (Russia), Katsumi Nakajima (Japan), Alice Peterson (US), Ayyanan Ramaiah (India), Xiaoyun Sun (China), Hyuck Jong Kim (South Korea).
One major concern is the reliability and security of the information system where all financial aspects of the ITER operations are recorded and maintained. "So much is done electronically that it is critical to determine the dependability of the data. We don't want reliability to be questionable ..."

Three years after it was established, how does the ITER Organization look to an auditor? "I've been in this business for 30 years," says Alice, "and I have never found the perfect organization. ITER is unique and has come a long way. Today, the most critical controls have been developed which brings the organization under control. The ITER Organization was never given the luxury of growing slowly. I must say it's done pretty well with what it was given ..."

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