|
A U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE), Office of Science review of the U.S. Contributions
to ITER was held in Oak Ridge from March 22-24. The U.S. contributions
are currently “provisional” since the negotiated details
need to be finalized after an agreement on ITER siting and other
details are concluded. The provisional scope includes 4 of 7 modules
of the superconducting central solenoid; the steady-state power
supplies; 16% of the diagnostic instrumentation; 44% of the ICRH
antennae and all associated transmission lines, rf sources and power
supplies; the ECH start-up gyrotrons and all associated transmission
lines and power supplies; 10% of the blanket/shield; the Tokamak
Exhaust Processing System; the cooling water system required for
the divertor and vacuum vessel; and vacuum roughing pumps and standard
vacuum components for the guard and service vacuum systems and for
the heating systems.
The purpose of the review was to evaluate the project’s readiness
for setting the preliminary baseline cost range - so-called “Critical
Decision-1,” or “CD-1.” This is one of a series of
prerequisites that must be met in order to obtain approval for construction.
The review team consisted of experts in the various technology and
management areas who evaluated the subsystem scopes of work, costs,
schedules, and risk management plans which were presented by members
of the U.S. ITER Project Office (USIPO). The USIPO is jointly managed
by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and the Oak Ridge National
Laboratory and was established in July 2004 (please refer to the
September 2004 IEEE / NPSS Newsletter article “US ITER Project
Office Announced” for more details). Also reviewed were a number
of documents required for CD-1, including an Acquisition Strategy
for procurements, a Preliminary Project Execution Plan, Risk Analysis,
Preliminary Cost Range and Schedule, and a Conceptual Design Report
which includes an analysis of alternatives. The reviewers made a
number of suggestions which are presently being addressed in preparation
of formal submittal of these documents for CD-1 approval request
in the next month or so. Once CD-1 approval is granted, work can
begin on the preliminary design activities whose major goal is to
establish a cost baseline.
Japan is proposing a site in Rokkashomura in northern Japan, while
France is proposing a site in Cadarache, southern France. There
has been a strong recent increase in the pace of negotiations between
Japan and the European Union on the issue of ITER siting after a
year of relatively little activity which gives hope that the impasse
may be resolved soon.
Phil Heitzenroeder can be reached at the Princeton Plasma Physics
Laboratory, P.O. Box 451, Princeton, NJ 08543-0451; Phone: +1 609
243 3043; E-mail:pheitzen@pppl.gov.
 |
| Sectional View of the ITER Tokamak (Courtesy
of ITER) |
|
