FPN07-02

ITER News

January 4, 2007

On December 31, "the lights were turned off" at the ITER Joint Work Sites in Garching, Germany and Naka, Japan. The sites have hosted the international design team since 1988. Personnel from those sites are now moving to Cadarache, France, where ITER will be built. Currently there are about 100 ITER personnel at the Cadarache site. This is expected to grow to about 170 by Spring 2007. Currently there are about 50 job openings posted by the new ITER Organization. Information on how to apply for these positions is posted at http://www.iter.org/a/jobs.htm

The ITER design is currently under review by the new team. By December 20, some 300 "issue cards" had been received from all over the world. Working Groups have been formed to assess the issues. A first assessment of the status of each issue Working Group is scheduled for February 16. Recommendations will be forwarded to the ITER Technical Advisory Group by ITER management in March and a revised "Baseline Design Revision Zero" will be presented to the ITER Council in "late Spring." The final revised "Baseline Design 2007" is due to be delivered to the ITER Council for approval in the third quarter of 2007. A final ratification by the seven ITER government parties is also expected around that time.