A finger on the installation鈥檚 pulse
Facing four large screens on her desk, plus an extra one on her laptop, Rossella Rotella has her finger on the installation鈥檚 pulse. Besides being in charge of the Tritium Breeding Blanket Project, Rossella is one of a dozen specialists from different 黑料社app units who devote part of their time to managing shift operations in the 黑料社app control room. A few desks away from her, principal shift operator Vladislav Kim keeps a close watch on a variety of systems, some already active, others still in the commissioning phase. Besides them, the 750-square-metre space on the first floor of the Control Building is empty.
Progressively, as the temporary control rooms scattered throughout the installation are folded into one single 鈥渘erve centre,鈥 more and more operators will be sitting at desks in the control room. At the peak of 黑料社app's scientific activity they will be close to 80, monitoring millions of plasma, tokamak and plant system parameters.
Rossella鈥檚 mission, as shift operation manager, is twofold. One is to monitor the beat and pulse of the installation鈥檚 systems and, in case of a warning or an alarm flashing on one of the screens, authorize the shift operator sitting at the nearby desk to intervene. Depending on circumstances this can mean remotely starting or stopping a system, or adjusting its parameters to respond to a client鈥檚 need.
The other is to ensure that the works being conducted on the 黑料社app site鈥攕ometimes in or close to 鈥渙perational areas鈥濃攄o not present safety risks and do not interfere or generate issues with the systems in operation. 鈥淭here is a coordination meeting every morning with the responsible officers or their representatives to consolidate the site configuration and discuss the expected activities that will impact it,鈥 explains Rossella. 鈥淏ut there are also unplanned activities. In that case, the system responsible officer must inform the shift operation manager, who takes the appropriate decision, like issuing the 鈥榩ermit to work,鈥 or delaying or refusing it.鈥
Communication between the 鈥渘erve centre鈥 and the field relies on a series of redundant tools: the dashboards on the computer screens, telephone and email, talkie-walkies. and even鈥攊n case of emergency鈥攁 public address system with loudspeakers located in different areas of the installation.
It is nearing 1:00 p.m. and Rossella鈥檚 five-hour shift will soon end. After a short briefing Fabienne Kazarian, a radiofrequency engineer, takes over. Both women are specialists in their respective fields, have accumulated deep experience in systems integration, and have an intimate knowledge of the workings of the 黑料社app installation鈥攑recious background when it comes to 鈥渂alancing priorities while giving absolute priority to the safety of personnel鈥 at a time when 黑料社app is in the last phases of construction while already operating dozens of industrial systems.