Name of the Project
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.

Location
Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France.

Project Owner/s
The ITER Organization, which includes China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US.

Project Description
The ITER project is a large-scale scientific experiment that aims to demonstrate that it is possible to produce commercial energy from fusion. It is based on the tokamak concept of magnetic confinement, in which the plasma is contained in a doughnut-shaped vacuum vessel. The fuel for the reactor will be a mixture of two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium, which will be heated to temperatures higher than 150-million degrees centigrade, forming the hot plasma.

The project entails the construction of the Tokamak complex – a 360 000 t building that comprises the tokamak, diagnostic and tritium buildings – in Cadarache, north of Marseille, in southern France. It will have an estimated generating capacity of 500 MW.

The complex will be 80 m high, 120 m long and 80 m wide. Its footprint will be bigger than that of a football stadium.

It will rely on 493 plinths, equipped with antiseismic bearings. The plinths can sustain the overall weight of the reactor – about 23 000 t – almost three times the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

The complex will host 100 heavy nuclear and confinement doors. The major doors will be 4 m high, 4 m long and 35 cm thick. Each door will be about 40 t and they will be remotely operated.

Capital Expenditure
The project is valued at an estimated €13-billion. Members of the ITER Organization will bear the cost of the project through its ten-year construction phase and its 20-year operational phase before decommissioning.

Planned Start/End Date
First plasma is scheduled for November 2025. Full deuterium/tritium operation is scheduled for 2035. The ITER Organization and domestic agencies schedule milestones leading up to these dates and are reviewed monthly, with strategies developed to make up for lost time, where necessary.

Latest Developments
UK-based Assystem has been awarded the contract for the final design Phase 1 and prototype testing of the divertor remote handling system (DRHS) for the ITER. The DRHS is one of the first remote handling systems to be provided as part of the European contribution to the project by Fusion for Energy.

Meanwhile, the Fusion Energy Directorate – National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), have completed the manufacture of the first toroidal field coil for the ITER.

The newly completed TF coil is the first main structural component for ITER's magnet system, and its completion is a major milestone forward for the reactor's construction. Plans call for five TF coils to be produced at the Futami plant, in Japan, which will be shipped from Kobe port to southern France in the run-up to the start of ITER operations in 2025.

The superconducting TF coils are D-shaped and about 16.5m high, 9m wide and weigh about 300 t. Eighteen TF coils will encompass the vacuum vessel container and generate a powerful magnetic field (maximum of 12 tesla) to confine high-temperature and -density plasma within the vessel.

The ITER requires 19 TF coils (including one spare) to be made: nine in Japan (including the spare) and ten in Europe. The inner coil structures for all coils will be manufactured at MHI's Futami plant. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is in charge of producing the Nb3Sn superconducting winding packs for five TF coils (including the newly completed coil), with the outer coil structures being manufactured in Korea, and final assembly performed back at MHI's Futami plant.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
The VFR consortium, comprising Vinci Construction Grands Projets, Razel-Bec, Dodin Campenon Bernard, Campenon Bernard Sud-Est, GTM Sud, Chantiers Modernes Sud and Ferrovial Agroman. Assystem (final design Phase 1 and prototype testing of the divertor remote handling system); QST and MHI (toroidal field coils).

Contact Details for Project Information
ITER Organization communications, Laban Coblentz, tel +33 6 14 16 40 85 or email Laban.Coblentz@iter.org.