Any way you cut it, ITER is fantastically complex. Whether you're counting components or the lines in the machine assembly schedule, or taking a closer look at the project's vast procurement sharing scheme ... complexity needs to be managed in ITER. Hans-Henrich Altfeld, head of the Project Control Office, tells us how it's done. From a lay person's view, what makes the ITER Project stand out is the sheer scale of the undertaking in terms of size and budget, its level of scientific and technological innovation and, not least, its relevance to critical global issues. A project manager looks at it differently. With costs of EUR 20 billion, millions of parts, supply chains spanning the entire globe and a multi-cultural workforce coming from 35 different countries, ITER is complexity to be managed. Altfeld has experience in the domain, having worked as a senior project manager for Airbus and in the automotive industry. His experience in mega projects is serving him now. "Whereas at Airbus, 79,000 design drawings were needed for the development of the A380, at ITER we stand at 250,000 design drawings." Why is it important to address complexity? "What we ultimately want to achieve is control over the project," Altfeld explains. "We do this by reducing its complexity. This will give us better control of the project, which is a precondition for success." Hans-Henrich Altfeld has thirty years of international experience in program and project management. He worked for over twelve years at Airbus and four years at Johnson Controls Automotive Seating. He has led large production plants, managed various business transformation projects and been responsible for the building of entire factories. Since January 2017 he heads the Project Control Office.  Recognizing complexity is the first step to addressing and ultimately reducing it. But, how is this done with a project of this magnitude? "You have to slice the elephant," says Altfeld. Slicing the elephant? "You essentially cut the project into smaller units. This allows you to address the project in incremental steps that you manage individually." At ITER, the "slicing of the elephant" follows the contour lines of other highly complex projects. "The ITER Project is not particularly unique in this sense," says Altfeld. It includes breaking down the entire project into systems, sub-systems and components; breaking down all required work into work packages; establishing and cascading requirements along with dedicated verification and validation plans; establishing a schedule governance which incorporates the activities of the Domestic Agencies, and developing a coordinate system for the ITER site. "Slicing the elephant" requires tight management and strict control of the interfaces and interdependencies between the separate "slices." "There is still room for improvement in this area," says Altfeld. "For ITER—as a first-of-a-kind experiment—it was impossible to identify all interfaces and interdependencies right from the beginning. It is learning by doing." One example of the need for stricter interface control surfaced at a recent workshop. Considering the number of components the ITER machine will consist of and the extended time frame for construction, clear and understandable coding of components will ensure their correct placement in the machine. In previous years, not all components were coded early in the process, during the design phase. Now, these parts need to be coded retroactively—a situation that new procedures will correct in the future. Another lesson learned from other mega projects is the importance of identifying and prioritizing risks and opportunities. These can be of a technical nature, or relating more to the project control issues of schedule or cost. New risk and opportunity management practices are helping the project to anticipate challenges in critical-path areas such as Tokamak Building construction and vacuum vessel manufacturing. "Identifying the potential risks to delivery allows the project to develop and implement response actions," concludes Altfeld. "In the same way, it is of utmost importance to 'hunt' for opportunities—to proceed more quickly or optimize assembly sequences, for example—to make sure they can be cashed in on."

Each of the vacuum vessel's 44 openings will have custom-made "extensions" to create the junction to the cryostat. The first link in the two-part chain—the port stub extension—will be welded to the vacuum vessel sectors before they are shipped from their manufacturing locations; (the second, port extensions, will be added during assembly on site). The first port stub extension is on its way now to Korea.   Another ITER component has taken to the sea, heading to the shores of South Korea. Its destination? Hyundai Heavy Industries—principal contractor to the Korean Domestic Agency for the manufacture of Korea's portion of the ITER vacuum vessel. Manufacturing is at an advanced stage there for vacuum vessel sector #6—the first sector scheduled to reach ITER. The port stub extension shipped last week will be welded to its upper port stub.   Port structures will create the junction between the vacuum vessel and the cryostat. The first of these—stub extensions—are shown at upper port level in the above diagram. These stub extensions will be prolonged by port extensions (not shown) during in-pit assembly at ITER. The port stub extensions, which are an integral part of the ITER vacuum vessel, will be welded to all the openings (or "ports") at lower and upper levels. The upper stub extensions are characterized by a trapezoidal/rectangular cross-section. Although they appear small compared to the vacuum vessel itself, these custom-made components weigh upwards of 17 tonnes and measure 4 metres x 2.5 metres, for 3.4 metres in length.   As part of the vacuum vessel, the stub extensions are subject to French regulations on pressure equipment (ESPN). "Achieving water pressure tightness was one of the main design criteria for this challenging component," says Yuri Utin, from ITER's Vessel Division.  Last January, the stub extension for upper port #12 was able to demonstrate leak tightness in pressure tests up to 3.78 MPa for the 30 minutes required by regulations. The helium leak tests that followed were also successful, as witnessed by representatives of the ITER Vacuum group.   Other challenges included manufacturing to tolerances of < 6 mm (for a shell thickness of 60 mm and a double-shell construction thickness of up to 200 mm); achieving defect-free welding in the attachment of the numerous pipe stubs on the main bulkhead; and carrying out full volumetric and visual examination of these welds and other welded joints in a context of difficult access, according to Yuri.   At MAN Diesel & Turbo, in Deggendorf, Germany, the port stub extension for upper port #12 successfully passed pressure and helium leak tests. It left the factory mid-October for shipment to Korea. The manufacturing of the first upper port stub extension is part of the more global procurement of the upper ports under the responsibility of the Russian Domestic Agency.  Its main supplier for all upper ports, the Efremov Institute in Saint Petersburg, is responsible for contracting out to procure the specific austenitic stainless steel required, performing structural and other analyses, checking and approving the manufacturing design, and controlling the manufacturing progress. The German company MAN Diesel & Turbo, based in Deggendorf, Lower Bavaria, was chosen to be the main sub-supplier for the manufacturing design and fabrication.   Once the port stub for upper port #12 reaches Korea, it will have to pass site acceptance tests in the presence of representatives of the Korean and Russian Domestic Agencies and representatives of the ITER Organization.

Big, powerful cranes need big, powerful hooks. The hook pictured in this image is one of four that belong to the double overhead bridge crane installed 43 metres above the floor in the Assembly Hall.   The double crane is made of two pairs of girders and corresponding trolleys (see diagram). The hooks are attached below by two redundant cables wound eight times in a pulley block.   Each hook has a lifting capacity of 375 tonnes.   Behind the blue hook in the photo is the yellow lifting beam (see diagram) that will be used to manoeuvre the heaviest machine components such as the vacuum vessel sector assemblies or the central solenoid.   The "1385 t" that we see mentioned refers to the operational lifting capacity of the whole system (1,500 tonnes) minus the dead load of the lifting beam.   Lifting tests with dummy loads (1,875 tonnes) are scheduled in December.

Craning their necks to take in the full size of what will be the ITER Tokamak, the crowd reacted spontaneously: "This is much bigger than I thought." "Really impressive!""I've never seen anything like it!" For the 11th time, the ITER Organization and the European Domestic Agency teamed up to open the doors and let close to 750 interested members of the public get a front-row view of the progress made on the construction site of this complex scientific endeavour. Large buses seating more than 50 passengers toured the site at half-hour intervals. The Tokamak Building was the first stop offered on Saturday 21 October for the ITER Open Doors Day. Passing winding walkways and clambering across narrow steps, visitors entered the circular bioshield through an opening that will accommodate one of the neutral beam injectors, used to heat the plasma, and found themselves standing in the very space where the ITER machine will be installed and assembled. Experts on site guided visitors through the complex science and technology that would one day take shape there. Those interested in the details of the engineering of the concrete wall itself could inspect elements of the steel reinforcement that were displayed close at hand. The large building looming above the visitors during their visit of the bioshield—the Assembly Hall—was the second stop of the tour. Its 60-metre-tall structure, covered in polished steel, makes it a gleaming landmark in the Provencal landscape. The building is still largely empty on the inside except for a very important feature: the gigantic twin overhead cranes with a lift capacity of 750 tonnes each, capable of maneuvering component loads of up to 1,500 tonnes. Visitors heard that these cranes would be instrumental in delivering the heaviest components of the machine to the Tokamak Pit for installation. Many visitors, like Solange from France, were visiting ITER for the first time: "I didn't know about ITER, but I find this project very interesting and important. I hope that it all works out." Her friend Annie added: "It was very moving indeed, because in the end this will be for our children." Others were repeat visitors, with a passion for the project that keeps them coming back. Giacomo, a PhD student from Italy, hopes to make a career in fusion: "I come here every time I can and it is always fascinating. I strongly believe in fusion and I decided to study it so I can contribute to a certain extent." His fellow PhD student Anastasia from Russia was equally enthusiastic: "I always come to the Open Doors Days. It's exciting to see things advancing — I saw the Assembly Hall for the first time today. The project is a great solution to the energy problem." ITER Open Door Days are organized bi-annually, in the spring and autumn, hosted by the ITER Organization and the European agency for ITER, Fusion for Energy.

If something goes wrong in your electrical installation at home you might lose the contents of your freezer—an aggravating occurrence but not a disastrous one. In ITER, if a component in the electrical system fails the consequences can be serious, and have a significant impact on operations, schedule and cost.   Of course the ITER electrical system is a far cry from a home installation. With some 80 transformers of various power and size, hundreds of kilometres of cables, and switches and outlets by the thousands, it forms an exceptionally dense and complex network that extends over the entire ITER platform and penetrates deeply into every building.   "A large part of our equipment is industry standard, off the shelf," explains Massimiliano Camuri, an electrical engineer in the ITER Electrical Power Distribution Section. "But we also have a few components that are atypical and borderline prototype."   What makes the ITER electrical installation unique, however, is not so much the nature of its constituting components, but the presence of systems operating in distinct modes (steady-state and pulsed) and at different voltages.   "We want to achieve zero fail, and the first step in that direction is the careful follow-up of the commissioning of every component," says Massimiliano. "Then comes the maintenance, which must be both predictive and preventive: rather than having to fix a failure we want to anticipate it and understand the sequence of events that can eventually lead to a problem."   Massimiliano, who was responsible for the design, operation and maintenance of the electrical system at the European Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the Chilean Andes, has first-hand experience with the consequences of an electrical failure in a large scientific installation.   "A failure can severely damage the instruments, particularly where cryogenics are involved, and it always costs a lot of money. When it happens, you apply patches, you redesign ... but that is precisely what we want to avoid here at ITER. As we say in the realm of space-related activities, 'failure is not an option.'"   A month ago on 26 September, ITER awarded the maintenance of the installation's electrical system to the French company Dalkia, a leader in the field of energy services.   Under the supervision of the ITER Organization, it will be Dalkia's responsibility to monitor the online diagnostics systems for the electrical system, as well as provide real-time assessment and off-line maintenance to ensure that power is distributed wherever it is needed.   Worth approximately EUR 10 million, the contract will enter into its operative phase on 1 April 2018 after a six-month "appropriation" phase that will allow the new contractor to familiarize itself with the ITER electrical system, components and procedures.   Checking the quality of a transformer's insulating oil is one of the "small tasks" which, along with more elaborated procedures, will guarantee the performance and dependability of the ITER electrical system. In the meantime, maintenance tasks need to be performed on some of the components that have already reached the ITER site.   Last week, Massimiliano could be found squatting next to a transformer outside the large storage area that spreads behind the hill to the south-east of the platform. He was checking the oil in one of the US-procured medium voltage transformers that were delivered a few months ago.   Drawing a 50 millilitre sample of oil, passing it through photo-acoustic spectroscopy to identify possible alterations in the concentration of dissolved gases—and thus identifying the event or condition that caused them—is typical of a preventive/predictive approach to maintenance.   Although it requires highly sophisticated equipment, the analysis of the insulating oil inside a transformer is one of the many small actions that, along with more elaborated procedures, will guarantee the performance and dependability of the ITER electrical system.   "We are not inventing anything. We apply tried and tested procedures to a one-of-a-kind installation, one that cannot be compared to anything existing ... and that's precisely where the challenge lies."

Researchers led by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have proposed an innovative design to improve the ability of future fusion power plants to generate safe, clean and abundant energy in a steady state, or constant, manner. The design uses loops of liquid lithium to clean and recycle the tritium, the radioactive hydrogen isotope that fuels fusion reactions, and to protect the divertor plates from intense exhaust heat from the tokamak that contains the reactions. "There are many challenges to developing fusion energy and the handling of heat on divertor plates is among them," said PPPL physicist Masa Ono, lead author of a paper about the design published in the journal Nuclear Fusion. "We wanted to see how we can protect the divertor plates and keep the fusion chamber clean." The system that Ono and colleagues designed calls for pumping liquid lithium in and out of a tokamak, a type of magnetic fusion device, to maintain steady state operation while cleaning out dust and other impurities from the plasma and safeguarding the divertor. The lithium, a silvery metal that readily combines with other elements, would serve a number of functions, including protecting the divertor plates, capturing tritium for recycling, and removing dust and other unwanted elements. Continue reading on the PPPL website. -- Physicist Masa Ono of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.