Worksite progress
A view from the belfry
8 Oct 2018
From the C5 crane, we can see a small town booming with activity: to the left, the 60-metre-high Assembly Hall and the circular bioshield resembling a jewel in its box; to the right, part of the industrial infrastructure (power conversion, cryoplant, electrical switchyard) that will support machine operations.
If ITER were a small town (and in a way it is), crane C5 would be the belfry—the spectacular vantage point from which to take it all in.
From a height of some 80 metres, by the light of a midafternoon in October, buildings, vehicles, lifting fixtures and people at work are revealed in sharp detail.
The small town is booming with activity, its dwellers dwarfed by the giant structures that surround them: to the left, the 60-metre-high Assembly Hall and the circular bioshield ressembling a jewel in its box; to the right, part of the industrial infrastructure (power conversion, cryoplant, electrical switchyard) that will support machine operations.
A sharp eye will notice that Crane C1, rising from the centre of the bioshield and materializing the axis of the ITER machine, stands taller than it used to: the optimized version of the building plan required its extension by approximately 10 metres.
Compared to the view shot from the same location in July, progress on the Diagnostics Building (centre) is spectacular. The building has now reached its final height and most of the work is going on in the lower floors.
The gallery below will tell you more ...
The ITER Organization is based in this five-storey, 215-metre-long building in Saint Paul-lez-Durance, France. Through the bridge that connects the building to the construction worksite, machine operators will be able to pass directly on to the Control Room.
The nuclear concrete structure around the ITER machine will contain 30,000 tonnes of rebar and 150,000 m³ of concrete. The densest, thickest and most intricate rebar arrangements are located under the machine, in the concrete floor (basement), the recently completed crown, and the crown's radial walls.
Some 30 plant systems will be installed to support the machine. On the one-kilometre-long ITER construction platform, infrastructure and buildings rose in 2018 for cryogenics (second from left), magnet power supply (twin buildings in centre), power distribution and heat rejection (not pictured).
If we could look under the temporary lid of the circular bioshield we would see down 30 metres to the very floor of the Tokamak Complex. This will be the machine assembly arena; already, contractors are installing thousands of metrology targets on the inner surface of the bioshield to create a fixed reference base for the installation and alignment of components.
The ITER Organization and the seven Domestic Agencies are working to very detailed and closely monitored schedules to reach First Plasma in 2025. Project control metrics show that 57 percent of total First Plasma work scope has been completed (a figure that includes design activities, component manufacturing, building construction, shipping and delivery, assembly and installation). In March 2020 the Tokamak Building will have a roof and the first limited crane access will be possible between the Assembly Hall and the machine assembly pit.
Seen from the main ITER office building, the facade of the Tokamak Complex is changing at a fast pace. The column of openings to the left shows where the cask and plug robotic system will move components between the Hot Cell Facility and the port openings at different levels of the machine. The four circular openings will allow the passage of the high voltage transmission lines for the neutral beam systems (diagnostic neutral beam far left, neutral beam heating three on right).