It is small change in the context of the overall €5 billion cost of the international fusion project, but an €11 million contract signed this week will move the project decisively onto its next phase, laying out the infrastructure and turning ITER into one of Europe’s biggest engineering sites.
The contract between Fusion for Energy (F4E) the body that runs ITER, and COMSA EMTE, a Spanish construction company will prepare the site for the transport of material and equipment, extend the power supply and water distribution networks, streamline all protocols for safety, security and access, and provide amenities for the workforce of 3,000 people that are expected to be working on the site by 2014.
Over the next eight years, 39 buildings and facilities will be built on the ITER site. Construction started last year with the erection of the Poloidal Field Coils building and the excavation of the Tokamak complex, bringing together a workforce of 275 people.
By late 2012 personnel directly involved in construction are expected to exceed 1,000 and by mid-2014 this expected to triple, reaching the maximum capacity of 3,000.
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