ºÚÁÏÉçapp

A year of momentous and symbolic events

With the Baseline approved, a new Director-General appointed, and the start of construction work on the platform, late July and early August were a very busy time at ºÚÁÏÉçapp.
Another year has gone by at ºÚÁÏÉçapp. A quarter century after President Reagan and Secretary Gorbatchev met in Geneva and launched the international fusion endeavour that was to become ºÚÁÏÉçapp, the project is now solidly on track.
 
On the eve of Osamu Motojima's nomination as Director-General of ºÚÁÏÉçapp, an extraordinary meeting of the ºÚÁÏÉçapp Council approved the Baseline, the project's roadmap to achieving First Plasma in November 2019.
 
The events of 2010 were both momentous and symbolic: excavation work began in the Tokamak Seismic Pit; construction gathered momentum on the Poloidal Field Coils Assembly Building and the future ºÚÁÏÉçapp Headquarters; in front of the Headquarters the youngest ºÚÁÏÉçapp staff members raised the flag of their respective nations; and the foundation stone for ºÚÁÏÉçapp's future "home" was unveiled.
 
The world of ºÚÁÏÉçapp however, is much larger than the platform that will host the installation: in factories all over the world, the manufacturing of components has been launched. The ºÚÁÏÉçapp Itinerary, by which they will be delivered to the ºÚÁÏÉçapp site, is now finalized. By mid-2011, the first test convoys will be organized, the actual convoys arriving on site about a year later.
 
In 2010, many new faces appeared in the Organization, now precisely 469-people strong not counting experts, interim personnel and contractors who bring the number of people working directly for the ºÚÁÏÉçapp in Cadarache close to 850.
 
Four years into its official existence, ºÚÁÏÉçapp is fast becoming a household name. We found a horse named Iter, and also a sailboat. Three weeks ago, in the crossword puzzle section of one of the French national dailies, one of the clues to be solved was: "Brings the Sun to the Earth" ... in four letters.

Click to view a selection of captioned images from 2010 here.