Image of the week
New mayor observes ITER Christmas tradition
6 Dec 2021
Every year since the ITER Organization moved into its Headquarters building in November 2012, the tradition has been observed. A few weeks before Christmas, the mayor of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, where the organization is administratively located, sends a large Christmas tree and comes a few days later to symbolically light its baubles and garlands.
From left to right: Élise Place, deputy to the mayor of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance; Mayor Romain Buchaut; ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot; and Ioan Cruceana, head of the Office of the Director-General.
Over the years, the mayors have changed but the tree has always been delivered. On Wednesday 1 December, Mayor Romain Buchaut, who was elected in September 2021, came to ITER with his one of his deputies, Élise Place, and—together with ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot—pressed the button that illuminated the tree.
As a specialist in land planning and development, Mayor Buchaut said he was very eager to strengthen the relationship between ITER and the municipality he is heading. He stressed the very unique situation of Saint-Paul-lez Durance—a village of less than one thousand inhabitants that, thanks to ITER, the neighbouring French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), and their many contractors—offers close to 10,000 full-time jobs on its territory.