ITER awards mega contract for assembly of Tokamak and support plant

The ITER Organization has overall responsibility for the successful integration and assembly of components delivered to the site by the seven ITER Members. 

Working as part of the ITER Organization construction team, MOMENTUM will coordinate the assembly-phase work carried out on site by ITER Organization or Domestic Agency contractors. The Construction Management-as-Agent contractor will provide the services, systems and processes to ensure that the assembly of the first-of-a-kind ITER Tokamak and the parallel installation and integration of the supporting plant systems are carried out to the highest standards of quality and safety. 

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

In the words of Bernard Bigot, ITER Director-General: “The role of the Construction Management-as Agent is absolutely central to the success of the ITER Project. And since fusion holds so much potential as an environmentally clean and virtually limitless, safe source of energy, the stakes of success for the seven ITER Members are very high. With the expertise represented by the MOMENTUM joint venture, we feel confident that the assembly and installation of the ITER facility will meet its objectives: delivery on time and on budget with the highest standards of quality.” 

The scope of services for the MOMENTUM contract includes contract management, configuration management, project management, construction preparation, site coordination, works supervision, and activities leading up to mechanical completion. The contract does not cover design, fabrication of components, building construction, or building services. 

Kick-off for the Construction Management-as-Agent contract will take place this August, when a 30 person mobilization team selected from the three partner companies by the MOMENTUM joint venture arrives on site to start the initial preparation period. The team’s first task will be to work with the ITER Organization to understand and improve the procedures, plans and detailed schedules already in place. 

“The complexity of the ITER machine makes this a very important contract,” said Gyung-Su Lee, ITER Deputy Director-General and Chief Operating Officer. “With more than one million parts and hundreds of thousands of activities, proper coordination of assembly and installation will take strong teamwork between MOMENTUM and the ITER Organization.”

According to Joo-Shik Bak, Head of the ITER Construction Department, “The ITER Organization will be working in close cooperation with MOMENTUM on every aspect of this complicated assembly and installation phase. We look forward to a strong relationship, clear communication, and the highest standards of performance by all involved.” 

“The MOMENTUM joint venture partners bring an enormous amount of international industrial expertise to the project, as well as knowledge gained through prior involvement in ITER,” said Kenneth Blackler, who leads ITER’s Construction Management Section. “We look forward to the MOMENTUM team joining the project and working together with ITER experts to prepare and execute the assembly-phase works.” 

The Construction Management-as-Agent contract has been awarded for ten years with an option for a three-year extension. 

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/

CONTACT

Laban Coblentz 
Laban.Coblentz@iter.org 
+33 6 14 16 40 85