Hard hats are coming

Seen from the outside, there is currently little activity on the ITER construction site. But be assured that things are about to change. Within the next three months, the scrapers and diggers will be back on the scene and construction activities will move into full gear. In six month's time, we may all have trouble remembering what a quiet platform was like!

In the Civil Construction and Site Support (CCS) Office, it is our job to ensure that the design of the installations is sound and complete before the works begin. Next week, we will kick off a whole series of meetings between the ITER Organization, the European Domestic Agency Fusion for Energy and their Architect Engineer, ENGAGE. Together, we will be going over the latest approved building requirements and preliminary designs to ensure that the ITER Organization requirements are clear to the Architect Engineering firm whose job it is to transform the requirements into full detailed designs suitable for construction. This exercise will involve all the ITER departments and divisions.

Some 150 engineers will be involved in the process of completing drawings and documentation to prepare for the call to tender for the actual construction of the buildings. The Procurement Arrangement for building construction, scheduled to be signed at the Management Advisory Committee meeting mid-May, will be the fifth and final for the CCS Office, and the largest ever concluded by the ITER Organization.

The JWS III office building adjacent to Headquarters is nearly finished. The IT team will begin setting up the computer cables next week, in order to have all the infrastructure in place when the Architect Engineers move in at beginning of June. Upon completion of JWS III, the focus of activity for Agence ITER France will move to the construction of the permanent ITER Headquarters building. The main contract for this building is ready for placement, and construction is expected to commence within the next couple of months.

Last but not least, we are involved with preparing the transfer of the ITER site—currently still in the hands of the CEA—to the ITER Organization. A working group has been established with members of the ITER Organization, Agence ITER France and Fusion for Energy to prepare the necessary legal and technical documentation. It is hoped that this handover can occur before the ITER Council meeting in June.