Designed to take the floods
Talking about rainfall: in order to make sure that ITER does not get washed away by the odd flood, two storm basins have been erected on site. One basin with a capacity of 6000 m3 and a second one which can hold 13.000 m3 will make sure that the ITER facilities covering about 60 hectares of land won't get washed away even in case of persistent, heavy rainfall. The capacity of the two basins and the connected release pipes have been calculated both on the basis of rainfall statistics gathered over the past hundred years which were then extrapolated, and the given topography on the ITER site.
The second basin will be close to the future waste water sewage plant to be built in 2009 and the future cooling water control basins, for which construction will start later this year. The works related to the rainwater drainage will be finished this July.