At the beginning of February, Industrial Liaison Officers (ILOs) from the fusion programmes in many European countries met with F4E in Barcelona for a briefing on the Work Programme for 2009. In addition to procurements for the large, critical path components, details of design and R&D projects were announced.

ITER site preparation for building construction to begin

The F4E Work Programme for 2009 was presented to the ILOs by Philippe Corréa, F4E Head of Procurement, and Maurizio Gasparotto, F4E's Chief Engineer. The main procurements will be in the Magnet, Vacuum Vessel, Divertor and ITER Buildings areas.

Design and R&D activities will be concentrated on the following: Blanket, Remote Handling, Vacuum Pumping and Fuelling, Tritium plant, Cryoplant, Power Supplies, Computing & Data Acquisition (CODAC), Ion Cyclotron-Heating & Current Drive, Electron Cyclotron-Heating & Current Drive, Neutral Beam system and Diagnostics.

Procurements for support activities will include: plasma engineering, safety, nuclear data, engineering and quality assurance.

“The F4E meeting was very useful in terms of flagging up the planned procurements for 2009. Although we are still waiting for precise timings and scheduling of the procurements it nonetheless gives us a focus for our efforts this year. Collectively we are now tasked with engaging industry in these projects and, where appropriate, identifying opportunities for industry consortia,” commented, Dan Mistry, Fusion and Industry Manager, UKAEA.

Full details of the F4E 2009 Work programme Procurements can be obtained from Dan Mistry.