Ready to build the Assembly Hall of the Tokamak

The ITER construction platform is getting ready for another major development! The consortium made of Vinci, Ferrovial and Razel will start the construction of the Tokamak Assembly Hall building in August 2014. The 60 metres high building, adjacent to the Tokamak complex, will host the two 750 tonnes cranes that will assemble the components of the ITER machine. The work is part of the construction contract for the Tokamak complex which was signed in 2012.

In April 2012, works kicked off with the drilling of boreholes and the extraction of 12000 m³ of soil and rock. Reinforcement works and the pouring of concrete for the 6000 m² basemat followed which lasted roughly one year.

The construction of the impressive steel-structure will be realised in 15 steps from the erection of columns for the structure foundations to the assembly of the roofing in the ground floor.
Work will end in the first quarter of 2015.

The upper basemat of the Tokamak complex almost completed

The construction of the 9300m² upper basemat, so-called B2 slab, will come to an end in summer 2014. This slab will stand above the anti-seismic layer, put in place for the Tokamak complex composed of a 1.5 metres thick slab and 493 plinths, equipped with anti-seismic bearings.
The completion of this slab will mark a significant milestone. Once this is over, the construction of the ITER Tokamak complex can begin.
Currently, around 3000 tonnes of reinforcement have been installed, totalling 6 layers of rebars on average.

Since December last year, concrete pouring activities have started performed by GTM and Vinci Group. Four plots out of 15 have been poured already. A total of 15 000m³ of concrete will be used for the whole slab.

Watch our clip reporting on the key construction milestones