2010 F4E Annual Report published

The Annual Report offers a comprehensive account of all milestones achieved during 2010.
It provides readers with an overview of all activities on the operational and administrative side conducted by the organisation and highlights the major achievements of Europe’s contribution to the ITER project.

F4E signed ITER Procurement Arrangements (PAs) with ITER IO for an equivalent value of 615 million EUR. In addition, 44 contracts and 23 grants were signed with industrial contractors and with European fusion laboratories for values of 826 million EUR and 8 million EUR respectively.

F4E also signed five Broader Approach PAs with JA DA for a value equivalent to 66 million EUR.

The main contracts signed with industrial contractors in 2010 include the contract for the Architect Engineer for the Buildings, the contract for the cabling and jacketing of magnet conductors, the contract for the Toroidal Field Magnet Winding Packs, and the contract for seven sectors of the Vacuum Vessel (each steel sector is 13 metres high and 6.5 metres wide).

Important achievements during 2010 include the production of all 62 tonnes of copper strand for the magnet conductor six months ahead of schedule as well as the first 8 tonnes of superconducting strand, and the fabrication of full-size mock-ups of the radial plates for the ITER magnets.

The pace of construction on the ITER site has also increased. The site clearance and levelling were completed in July 2010. The construction of the Poloidal Field (PF) coils fabrication building, which is approximately 250 metres long, 45 metres wide and 17 metres high began in August 2010. The required 20 metres deep excavation for the tokamak building began and by the end of the year 300 people (staff and external contractors) were working on-site.

F4E has continued to carry out its ITER Activities during 2011 according to the baseline. Good progress has been made on the PF Coils building where more than half of the work is completed. Following the excavation of 200 000 m³ of rock for the construction of the lower basemat of the main tokamak building, the first pouring of concrete took place in August. In parallel, the signature of the site adaptations contract signaled the beginning of a series of works regarding the site infrastructure.

During 2010, F4E experienced a growing interaction with industry and associations which triggered off the need for the development and launch of the industry and associations portal, a platform that offers up to date information on F4E’s procurement activity. The number of meetings held in F4E rose by 36% compared to last year, exceeding a total of 3,000. Several high profile visits were also planned in F4E such the MEPs ITRE Committee representation and the official visit of the new Director General of ITER IO, Professor Osamu Motojima.

In terms of human resources, F4E grew in size and expertise counting more than 260 members of staff. New IT tools and platforms were introduced to store and track documentation. In the area of communication, the launch of the new F4E website, the media trip to ITER with 20 journalists under the Spanish presidency and the participation to the Catalan Education expo stood out.

You can either receive a hardcopy of the 2010 F4E Annual Report upon request or download it from here.