Laurent Patisson

Management of the ITER configuration towards construction phase

Control of the engineering data describing the physical configuration of the machine is a key factor for performing construction activities in time and within costs. This will allow minimizing the risk of future changes, the identification of all missing items and will ensure that the interfaces among different systems remain stable. Thus, the main priority for the Central Integration and Engineering directorate in ITER was to achieve a well described, reviewed and stable definition of the reference configuration. This requires not only that design of all systems is sufficiently detailed to ensure that all key safety and performance requirements have been satisfied, but also that all integration issues among the different systems have been identified and solved.

Management of the ITER buildings configuration for the construction and installation phase

The ITER project consists of a wide range of complex systems and interfaces which needs to be configured and controlled over the lifetime of the project with a comprehensive Configuration Management in place. The different maturities of the systems and their schedule need to be integrated in the overall project schedule in order to allow the project to stay in planned cost and schedule. The interfaces have to be advanced for those systems which are still in conceptual design phase to have sufficient information to advance with the systems facing the Manufacturing Readiness Review (MRR). In order to achieve the project objectives the structure of the ITER Organization (IO) Central Team (CT) is being adapted towards the ongoing construction phase on site as well as in the Domestic Agencies with a streamlined organization. Area Manager (AM) posts have been created for all buildings, the Site and the Tokamak machine in order to have a prompt decision making in design and construction phase following Project Change Requests (PCR), System Deviation Requests (SDR) and Field Change Requests (FCR). Weekly meetings are held between the IO CT with the Domestic Agencies (DA) and their contractors to feed the proposed modifications in the project baseline documentation including associated cost and schedule impact. In parallel the project is preparing the installation phase of the machine and the plant systems layout in identifying the systems required for the first plasma but also those which are “captive” and need to be installed during the civil works of the building. The schedule for each building and level has been developed to review the required duration and manpower in each area. As the installation of the systems and components will start at the defined Ready For Equipment dates (RFE) for each areas and level, the co-activities among the contractors have to be agreed.

International Fusion Reactor - Tokamak Complex Seismic Isolation

The International Fusion Reactor – ITER – is being designed and constructed with a high level of safety as an essential requirement. In order to meet the safety and performance objectives of the French regulatory authorities and of the ITER Organization requirements, the Tokomak Complex has been isolated from the potentially highly damaging effects of the hazard seismic loading by employing seismic isolation bearings. The Tokamak Complex seismic base isolation system and the Tokamak Complex structure have been designed by EGIS Industries as a member of the Architect-Engineer team ENGAGE. The design, manufacturing, qualification and installation of the seismic isolation bearings have been carried out by NUVIA Travaux Speciaux.