FPN10-31

ITER Update

June 24, 2010

The ITER Council met June 16-17 in China but postponed decisions on ITER cost, schedule and management issues until it meets again the last week of July in Cadarache, France. Representatives of the seven ITER sponsoring Parties (China, EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and US)"reiterated their support for the project and commended the progress that has been achieved," according to a press release issued at the conclusion of the meeting. At the meeting, the Council reviewed reports from its Science and Technology Advisory Committee and its Management Advisory Committee dealing with subjects such as the draft 2011 work plan, a financial audit, draft future years budgets, export control and the test blanket module program. ITER Director General, Kaname Ikeda, noted that "about 60% of the global procurement arrangements for ITER have already been concluded."

In early May, the ITER Organization signed the largest procurement to date, for the construction of the ITER buildings, valued at more than EUR 537 million. Procurement Arrangements (PA) were also signed with China, valued at more than EUR 47 million for 18 correction coils and support structure for the ITER magnet system and the cable-in-conduit conductors for the correction coils and feeders. Procurement Arrangements were also signed with with Europe for the toroidal field coils pre-compression system and with the U.S. for the electron cyclotron system transmission lines. On May 17, a PA was signed with the Korean Domestic Agency for the ITER thermal shields, to be delivered by late 2016.

Construction of the foundation for the tokamak building begins in mid-June, to be completed by November 2011. The contract is valued at approximately EUR 36 million. On June 4, a PA was signed with the Indian Domestic Agency for the cryolines that will provide cooling tower power for all ITER cryogenic components, valued at EUR 5.4 million. The cryoplant is scheduled to be complete by June 2013.

Prototype conductor jacket sections for the ITER Central Solenoid have been produced in Shanghai. The sections will be sent to Japan for compaction and then sent to the U.S. for preliminary winding trials.

For more information: http://www.iter.org and click on Newsline.