ITER platform
From every angle
11 Sep 2017
The ITER platform is changing fast: buildings that were just steel and concrete skeletons a few weeks ago now have roofs; ongoing cladding operations herald the architectural harmony that will be the rule for all structures (with the exception of the poloidal field coil winding facility and the Cryostat Workshop, which are not covered in mirror-like stainless steel and grey-lacquered metal); and at the heart of the installation, the bioshield seems never to stop rising ...
Nestled in the hills of Provence, the ITER site is now home to more than 3,500 people, worksite workers and scientific, technical and administrative personnel. In a few years it has outgrown the village that hosts it. (Photo ITER Organization - EJF Riche)
This latest series of aerial photographs also reveals the growing density of construction projects and, when inspected closely, the intensity of traffic — vehicles of all kinds on the move to deliver material and equipment to the different zones and the multiple projects at various stages of completion.
The ITER site is now home to 2,000 workers; bringing the total of people on site to more than 3,500 if one includes the scientific, technical and administrative personnel inside the ITER Headquarters and temporary office structures. That is more than four times the population of the village that hosts it.
From this angle, the ITER platform almost appears heart-shaped. We are looking almost exactly west. On the far left, a road leads up to the largest on-site warehouse for components that arrive from the ITER Domestic Agencies. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
This long, rectangular parcel is reserved for contractors, with temporary office buildings, parking spaces, an infirmary and a canteen. The Construction Management-as-Agent contractor, who will coordinate all assembly-phase work carried out by ITER Organization or Domestic Agency contractors on site, has offices in the large building at the bottom of the photo. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
Four long and low buildings occupy the middle of the platform: (from left to right) the European winding facility for poloidal field coils; the ITER cryoplant; and the twin Magnet Power Conversion buildings (under construction). Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
When the fourth (and last) above-ground level of the bioshield is completed, the structure will have almost reached the bottom of the poster. For now, workers are carrying out the successive pours of the L3 level, while the Tritium and Diagnostics buildings are rising in the wings. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
The two lower floors of the Tokamak assembly arena are now closed off by a metal lid. The first purpose of the lid, or "cap," is to protect teams evolving below, but it will also be useful as a storage platform. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
The central work zone for ITER construction changed drastically this summer. The fourth level of the bioshield (L2) is now completely framed out, columns are rising on the basemat of the Tokamak Building, and the Tritium and Diagnostics buildings are both rising (L1 and L3, respectively). Work is underway 16 hours per day, in two shifts. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
Forty-four converter transformers, paired with large "rectifiers," will be housed in these Magnet Power Conversion buildings—a group for each of the superconducting magnet systems. China, Korea and Russia are sharing the responsibility for procuring the equipment that will be installed here. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
The Tokamak Complex—two smaller buildings on either side of the main Tokamak Building—sits on a single foundation. All 400,000 tonnes of building and machinery can "move as a whole" in the case of ground motion due to an earthquake. Work has been underway on this massive structure since 2010. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche