30th ITER Council: Progress in a time of challenge and transition
The Council chamber on the fifth floor of the ITER Headquarters building resonated once again with the sound of voices as Member representatives gathered for the 30th Meeting (IC-30) on 15 and 16 June 2022.
Whereas the 2020 and 2021 ITER Council meetings had convened remotely, IC-20 was a hybrid meeting with approximately 60 people attending in person and others connected by video conference.
A minute of silence was held in honour of Director-General Bernard Bigot, who passed away on 14 May 2022. The process to select a successor is already underway under the responsibility of the ITER Council's recruitment search committee. Council members commended the ITER senior management—including in particular Eisuke Tada, appointed in the interim role of Director-General—as well as the broader One-ITER team for strong performance and collaboration during this challenging transitional period.
Under the chairmanship of Massimo Garribba, from Europe, representatives of the ITER Members reviewed the progress of construction, manufacturing, and assembly. As requested by the ITER Council during its meeting in November 2021, the ITER Organization—based on many months of collaboration with the ITER Domestic Agencies—presented a proposed revision of the project Baseline, taking into account all observed schedule variances due to the Covid-19 pandemic and technical challenges encountered with some large components as well as opportunities and other mitigation measures. Work will now continue to further develop the proposal.
The ITER Council also took note of recent delivery and assembly milestones, including the installation of the first completed vacuum vessel sector module in the assembly pit, and the latest report of interactions with the French regulator, Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN), on the release of the regulatory hold point for assembly.
