An Overview of the ITER Project

With the choice of the ITER construction site at Cadarache in June 2005, and the gradual selection of the ITER Project Team who will supervise the construction, the Project is now in a phase of ever heightening activity, increasingly focussed on the immediate needs of implementation, and increasingly attracting and stimulating the interest of the general public. The new organisation is currently being shaped, and the recruitment process has begun for the most senior members of the future ITER Staff. This allows technical preparations for construction to continue smoothly until the ITER Organisation can be set up. The greatest efforts are being made, both in the transition plans and in the new organisation, to preserve the legacy of technical know how built up in the central team since 1992. The new organisation is particularly strong initially in the most urgent areas, related to long lead items - magnets, the main vessel and the buildings - as well as in work related to licensing. But the team also incorporates new functional needs - financial, administrative, and procurement - and moves to tie in better the needs of future users in the diagnostic, heating, and test blanket development areas. Over the last two years, internal systems have also been built up, and project control procedures gradually tightened, with a view to satisfying licensing requirements and assuring the highest quality device. Since the bulk of the procurement for ITER will be provided in kind by the ITER Parties, efforts have been strengthened to define better the future links to and responsibilities of the Domestic Agencies. The agreed sharing of the procurement at the negotiation level has needed to be transferred into realistic technical splitting of the work, and this process is still underway. Also the procedures have been established which are to be followed in order to minimise the risk to the Parties of project time or cost overruns. The design of course has evolved in its details along with the surrounding technical context since originally conceived and valued five years ago. Design reviews of specific procurements have therefore been or are to be made to ensure the current manufacturing and design assumptions continue to satisfy the requirements. Regarding licensing, considerable effort is being made to tailor the documentation and underlying analyses to satisfy the norms the French licensing authority is familiar with, and to anticipate the requirements for a speedy licensing process. A public debate process has also been passed successfully. This paper will review the current status of development of the ITER Project, covering both organisational and technical issues. (author)