Good progress made on the ITER construction site

With the objective of avoiding delays on the ITER construction site, F4E has, for the first time, undertaken an accelerated restricted procurement procedure. Its successful completion – within the shortest time frame possible – is a significant achievement for F4E as it allows for the on-site work to continue without interruption and proves that the organisation is able to adapt and deliver even under unforeseen circumstances.

The accelerated restricted procedure has been the basis of the launching of the competitive Call for Tender which was open to all companies from EU Member States and Switzerland and has now resulted in the awarding of a contract worth 3.7 million EUR. The contract, signed in July and awarded to Spanish company COMSA EMTE, concerns the galleries and precipitation drainage around the Tokamak complex and Assembly building for which the works are currently being carried out by a workforce of 50.

The accelerated restricted procurement procedure, which involves speeding up all steps of the Call for Tender in order to achieve a 40% quicker result, can only be used in exceptional cases. In this case, a redesign linked to enhanced safety measures risked causing a delay in construction and it was especially important that the galleries and precipitation drainage around the Tokamak complex and Assembly building be completed before the rainy Autumn season starts. F4E decided therefore to use the accelerated restricted procurement procedure and design the Call for Tender using the lowest compliant bid method, i.e. the winning tender must include the lowest price offer while complying with the very detailed technical criteria set out in the call.

The awarded contract involves the construction of 12 reinforced concrete galleries which host Safety Important Component (SIC) related systems such as cooling water pipes and power supply cables of the networks that need to be visited and maintained during the lifecycle of the ITER machine. The total length of galleries will measure 650 metres, with particular sections measuring an impressive 12 metres in width and 6 metres in height. In total, 10,000m³ of earth is being moved in excavation (earthworks) and 5,000 m³ of concrete is being used. The awarded contract also comprises the precipitation drainage, i.e. the water collected from on and around the Tokamak and Assembly buildings, where in total the length for rain water drainage involves 800 metres of gravity pipework with diameters ranging from 400 millimetres to 1,400 millimetres.