From up high
A drone survey amidst the "giboulées"
2 Mar 2020
It is March in Provence and with the last month of winter comes a peculiar weather pattern that the French call « giboulées »—alternating showers and sunshine, cold spells sometimes accompanied with snow, and days that already feel like late spring.
Carved out of a 180-hectare site in the Durance River valley, southern France, the ITER scientific facility gleams in the late winter sun. Seventy-three percent of the construction work that needs to be completed by First Plasma has been realized. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
A drone operator needs to be something of a meteorologist—when surveying the ITER site, it is important to take into consideration the hour of the day and the angle of the sun. There are parts of the ITER site that shine only in the early morning light, others that are at their best in the slanting afternoon sun exclusively.
Emmanuel Riche, who has flown his drone over ITER since 2015, did his last survey amidst giboulées, but managed to capture, once again, the spectacular beauty of the site and the imposing presence of its many buildings.
As always, the Tokamak Complex is stealing the show. The 400,000-tonne edifice has changed a lot since it was last photographed from up high in October of last year.
At the time, the first pillars of the future crane hall were just being installed on both sides of the central Tokamak Building. Four month later, the steel structure is complete and cladding is progressing fast.
What happens inside (and a lot is happening) is now unfortunately hidden from view. The roof now blocks the view of the bioshield's familiar shape.
By comparing the present images to the ones taken last October, one can play the "spot the differences" game. There are particularly striking at the north end of the platform, where progress on the heat rejection zone has been spectacular, and one long-time essential facility for the construction of ITER—the concrete batching plant—has simply disappeared.
This week's ITER NOW video (1.5) features Emmanuel Riche and his work. You can view it here.
After six years of construction, the Tokamak Building is about to reach a major "ready for equipment" milestone, allowing ITER assembly contractors to begin assembling the machine. That does not mean that construction is over, however. The European Domestic Agency will be turning next to the ITER Control Building, and later to the tritium plant and hot cell buildings. Inside of the Tokamak Complex, too, much remains to be completed. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
A final layer of reflective metal cladding progressively covers the structure of the crane hall. At the end of March, the Tokamak Building will be handed over from the European Domestic Agency (Fusion for Energy, responsible for all civil works on site) to the ITER Organization for the start of assembly and installation. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
ITER's 180-hectare site fulfils all the technical requirements to host ITER, including geological, hydrological and seismic norms, and access to water and electricity. What's more, as neighbour to France's Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission's Cadarache site, it benefits from a rich scientific and industrial environment. Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
In the Tokamak Building/Assembly Hall (centre) preparations are underway for the first major lift of the machine assembly phase. Elsewhere on the site, plant systems are coming on line one by one (2019: electrical distribution; 2020: central control; liquid, gas and HVAC services; secondary cooling water; cryogenic sub-systems ...). Photo: ITER Organization/EJF Riche
At the north end of the platform, progress on the heat rejection zone has been spectacular: all ten "funnels" for the induced-draft cooling cells are in place and pipes, pumps and heat exchangers crowd the adjacent zone. One long-time essential facility for the construction of ITER—the concrete batching plant—has simply disappeared. The huge volumes of concrete that were necessary during the early construction phase of the 400,000-tonne Tokamak Complex are not needed anymore. The production of a local batching plant in nearby Vinon-sur-Verdon will be sufficient to cover present and future needs.