A promising start

The CODAC, Heating & Diagnostics (CHD) Department had a promising start in 2009. Within the first days of the New Year, the server room at Tore Supra on the CEA Cadarache site was abandoned and all services and data storage were migrated to the new server room at the Headquarters site. A nightly link was established to the European Domestic Agency computer centre for the backup of all critical data.

The CODAC Division organized a face-to-face meeting of the Project Management Working Group (PMWG) here in Cadarache with participation from Russia, India, Korea, Japan, the United States and Europe. In this meeting, the roadmap for future work was presented, and a strong request for further efforts in standardization was expressed.

In early February, the CODAC group announced that it had chosen the open-source software EPICS as the baseline for the ITER plant control system. EPICS is used worldwide for controlling accelerators and large experimental physics facilities. The EPICS open source solution was preferred to a commercial solution in regard to ITER's experimental nature and the project's long lifetime. Additionally, the selection process for the programmable logic controllers (PLC) equipment is in its final phase. PLCs are real-time computers used for controlling automation of electromagnetic processes. Technical and commercial discussions have taken place with four bidders for the major PLC brands.

The design of the buildings, the cooling and the cryosystem for the Neutral Beam Test Facility in Padua, Italy, has been completed and build-to-print specifications are available. For the Ion Cyclotron Section, the work is currently focused on the preparation of the Procurement Arrangements for the high voltage power supplies and the radiofrequency sources. The Indian Domestic Agency is in charge of these procurements and the signatures are scheduled for spring this year.

Procurement preparation is also ongoing for the ITER diagnostics systems. A comprehensive workshop is being organized next month with attendees from all seven ITER Parties.