22nd ITER Council

Project on track for First Plasma in 2025

25 Jun 2018 - ITER Communication

The ITER Council, ITER's governing body, met for the twenty-second time on 20 and 21 June 2018 at the ITER Organization in Saint Paul-lez-Durance, France. Council Members approved refinements to the construction strategy which will optimize the installation of components in the Tokamak Complex. With this strategy in place, the project is on track to achieve First Plasma in 2025 while adhering to overall project costs.

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The ITER Council acknowledged the improved collaboration of the One-ITER team—the ITER Organization and seven Domestic Agencies—and confirmed that the project is on track to success.
Representatives from China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States gathered in the fifth floor Council Chamber for a two-day review of the most recent reports on organizational and technical performance. They agreed that the project continues to sustain its strong performance and fast pace. Since January 2016, ITER has achieved 33 scheduled project milestones, including the recent commissioning of the first experiment of the ITER Neutral Beam Test Facility in Padua, Italy. 
 
The Council stated that significant progress has also been made on the manufacturing of technologically challenging components such as the vacuum vessel and the toroidal field magnets. They also highlighted progress in the installation of the cryoplant and in the build-up of the magnet power supply and conversion system. Based on their review of the latest performance metrics, Council Members confirmed that project execution towards First Plasma is now over 55 percent complete.
 
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Project execution towards First Plasma in 2025 is now over 55% complete.

The Council acknowledged the efforts undertaken by each Member to reach approval of the overall project cost through their respective government budget processes. Having completed their internal consultation procedures, China, Europe, Japan, Korea and Russia are ready to approve the 2016 Baseline.

 
Expressing their resolve to work together to find timely solutions to facilitate ITER's success, Council Members reaffirmed their strong belief in the value of the ITER Project to develop fusion science and technology.

Download the full press release in English and French.