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. 

Almost 3 000 t of superconducting magnets will be connected by 200 km of superconducting cables, all kept at -269 ºC by the world’s largest cryogenic plant.

Capital Expenditure
The project is valued at an estimated €23.6-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 and full deuterium/tritium operation is scheduled for 2035. The ITER Organization and domestic agencies schedule milestones leading up to these dates which are reviewed monthly, with strategies developed to make up for lost time, where necessary.

Latest Developments
The ITER Organisation has selected the contractors to undertake the assembly and installation activities inside the Tokamak Complex at the ITER. These contracts are the last major assembly and installation contracts planned for the Phase 1 Iter assembly.

Two international groups – one incorporated as a consortium and the other as a commercial partnership – have been awarded contracts for installation activities inside the Tokamak Complex.

These phased, long-term contracts will cover the pre-assembly and installation of the millions of components that comprise the plant systems supporting the Iter machine, including fuelling, vacuum, diagnostics, cooling, power and heating. The two assembly contractors for the Tokamak Complex will conduct similar types of installation tasks, notably mechanical and piping works, and electrical and instrumentation and control-related works.

The TCC1 assembly contract – for the installation of heating and current drive, diagnostics, fuelling, secondary cooling, and vacuum components – was signed in December 2019 by the ITER Organisation and the Italian Fincantieri Consortium, comprising Fincantieri, Fincantieri SI, Delta-ti Impianti and Comes.

The TCC2 assembly contract – for the installation of primary machine cooling water, test blanket module equipment, some vacuum pipework, vacuum vessel pressure suppression – was signed in December 2020 by the ITER Organisation and the META SNC, comprising France's Ponticelli Freres SAS and Spain's Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios SA and Empresarios Agrupados Internacional.

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, Ferrovial Agroman and Assystem (final design Phase 1 and prototype testing of the diverter remote handling system); QST and MHI (toroidal field coils); Italian Fincantieri Consortium, comprising Fincantieri, Fincantieri SI, Delta-ti Impianti and Comes (TCC1 assembly contract); and META SNC, comprising France's Ponticelli Freres SAS and Spain's Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios SA and Empresarios Agrupados Internacional (TCC2 assembly contract).

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