Uddannelses- og Forskningsudvalget 2013-14
FIV Alm.del Bilag 89
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ITER state of play

Information note from the Commission Services

ITER is an experimental device aimed at demonstrating the scientific and technologicalfeasibility of fusion energy. It is being constructed in Europe (St Paul-lez-Durance, France)under an International Agreement with six other Parties (China, India, Japan, Korea, Russiaand the USA). As the host of the facility, Europe is themajor contributor byfunding around45% of the cost of construction. In July 2010, the Council capped the European contributionto the construction of ITER at €6.6 billion (in 2008 value).

ITER state of play

Major milestones have been achieved duringthe last years for ITER, such as the handover ofthe ITER headquarters to the ITER Organisation (IO) that wasinaugurated by CommissionerGüntherOettinger and Ms Geneviève Fioraso, French Minister of Higher Education andResearch, on Thursday 17 January 2013. The Headquarters is oneof the contributions fromEurope and France to the ITER project.Moreover, the works for the Tokamak Pit (the hole hosting the concrete foundation and theseismic pads that will support the tokamak building) have been completed; the construction ofthe concrete basement is on-going and two major contracts for the construction of thetokamak complex have been awarded. Also, several keycomponentsarebeing manufactured bythe industries of the ITER Parties, such as the vacuum vessel and the magnets needed for theITER project. In addition, the first test convoy for heavy components started to run on 16September and reached the ITER site on 20 September.Following the licencing process fornuclear installation in France, the French Republic has issued the Decree authorising theinstallation of the ITER nuclear facility in Cadarache.Last 6 September, at the initiative of Commissioner Oettinger, the ITER Parties held aMinisterial-level meeting of the ITER Council. At this meeting the MinisterialRepresentatives, who last met in 2006, discussed the progress, challenges and way forward ofthe project and reiterated their support for the successful completion of ITER.Nevertheless, concerns exist on the progress of the project as regards cost and schedule. Forthis reason, the ITER Council at its November 2013 meetingrequested a series of actions aspart of the overall effort to improve schedule implementation and project performance:finalizing the analysis of root causes of inefficiencies by issuing a comprehensiveaction plan;providing a report with the overall status of design maturity of the differentcomponents – a pre-condition for effectively defining the exact scope of the projectand proceeding towards a full construction phase;the revision of the schedule for the Construction phase of the project, indispensable inorder to correctly monitor performance and prevent unnecessary pressure to defineoveroptimistic implementation schedules.
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Moreover, the ITER Council called for decisive action in addressing the findings of thebiannual ITER Organization Management Assessment, which put forward a series ofrecommendations to enhance the project's management, organization and governancestructure. The action plans tackling these issues will be reviewed and endorsed by the ITERCouncil at an extraordinary meeting to be held in February 2014.Last but not least, the Commission has consistently pointed out to the ITER governing bodiesthat the budget set by the EU Council for Europe's contribution to the construction phase ofthe project must be strictly respected (€ 6.6 billion in 2008 value).

Developments on the European Joint Undertaking for the development of Fusion

Energy (Fusion for Energy - F4E)

Following the retirement of the Director of Fusion for Energy (F4E), the Governing Board ofFusion for Energy appointed Dr HenrikBindslev as the new Director of F4E.Dr.HenrikBindslev took up his position on 1 January 2013.F4E is delivering Europe's contribution to ITER and by the end of 2012 had awardedcontracts for an amount of €1.8 billion, representing around 40% of the procurements neededto deliver the European contribution to ITER.In June 2013, F4E awarded the largest contract ever: the contract for thesupply andinstallation of themechanical, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, electrical andhandling equipment for the Tokamak complex (3 buildings) and surrounding buildings (8buildings) for a value of more than € 500 million. Moreover, a number of initiatives havebeen put in place at F4Eto improve its project management system, based on internal andexternal performance assessments and to seek further measures to mitigate the costs risks.At the end of 2013,Deloittehas deliveredthe second independent annual assessment of F4Eactivitieswhich concludes that F4E’s contribution to the ITER Project is progressingreasonably well in general terms, bearing in mind that F4E’s performance depends to a largedegree on the information and input received from the ITER Organization.At the same time,F4E has issued its second report to the Council on the progress of the implementation of theircost containment and savings plan, the performance and management of F4E and thefulfilment of scheduled activities. Both documents were requested by the Council of the EU inJuly 2010 and have been transmitted recently to the Council and to the European Parliament.
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