Atkins and F4E showcase ITER at the Royal Academy of Engineering awards ceremony

The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) annual awards ceremony is one of the most prestigious events celebrating the very best of British engineering. It is the perfect occasion to highlight the achievements of a sector that employs thousands of people, generates growth and has a direct impact on our quality of life. It is also the venue where senior policy makers, business and industry representatives learn from one another and exchange views.

Excellence, vision and innovation underpin the nominations in all categories with the Mac Robert Award, the premier prize for UK innovation in engineering, being the highlight of the evening. The ceremony took place in July at the Battersea Power Station, located in South London, known for its iconic four chimney plant which will be soon be part of an urban re-generation project.

This year’s RAE annual awards were sponsored by Atkins, a partner to the ITER project through the Architect Engineer contract, awarded by F4E, which ranks as one of the biggest contracts of the kind awarded in Europe. Atkins was celebrating one million person hours in ITER demonstrating its commitment to the biggest international research collaboration in the field of energy. The ITER mock-up travelled all the way to London and was unveiled in front of Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, George Osborne, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir John Parker, Chair of the RAE, senior policy makers, CEOs and the media.

Prof Dr Uwe Krueger, Atkins’ CEO, welcomed guests at the Atkins stand and in his opening words explained that “ITER is one of these projects that really excite the imagination of scientists and engineers. Atkins is passionate about it, whether we are fortunate to be working in Cadarache or just following the innovation of colleagues and peers from a distance”. F4E’s Chair of the Governing Board, Mr. Stuart Ward, represented Europe’s contribution to ITER and offered insightful information on the progress of the ITER project and the merits of fusion energy. He described the event as “a unique opportunity to communicate on a project that combines frontier science and engineering from around the world. The attraction of delivering fusion energy is what keeps all ITER parties, industry and fusion research associations committed”. ITER attracted a lot of interest in terms of technology breakthroughs and business opportunities.

As the event was coming to an end, the purple plasma lights of the ITER mock-up stood out at the marquee signalling the dawn of a new energy at the premises of the old coal-fired power plant. For those who could not see the ITER mock-up Atkins offered them the possibility to become familiar with the new source of energy by hosting the ITER mock-up at the Royal Academy of Engineers exhibition during the last two weeks of July.

Click on the links to read more about the RAE awards, the Architect Engineer contractand Atkins 
To see the progress of the ITER construction site click here