The technical requirements, localisation and establishment of the installation on the Cadarache site have been set out. The special arrangements proposed require slight adjustments as regards the overall site and meet all the technical specifications imposed by ITER.

The seismic features of Cadarache are well-known, complete with a historical review and recent detailed measurements. Calculations made on the reactor building proposed by the ITER team show that it could be constructed in Cadarache without major modifications.

The water and electricity supply complies with the technical specifications for ITER. The Cadarache site is situated about 75 km from the sea and transport of the largest components of the ITER machine has been the object of close study. Two possible routes have been assessed both technically and financially.

Insertion of ITER buildings in the landscape (view from the Chateau of  Cadarache).

In compliance with French legislation, a legislative process is required to obtain a permit to build and run a nuclear installation. The definition of a nuclear installation, called "Basic Nuclear Installation" (INB), is based on the radioactivity inventory. The ITER installation will be classified as INB, at least due to the forecast tritium inventory. The first stage in this procedure started with the preparation of the " Safety Option File " handed over to the French safety authorities in 2001.

Release of liquids and gases for ITER are completely compatible with already existing authorisations for the Cadarache site.

The estimated inventory of radioactive waste during the running and dismantling stage of ITER was carried out in accordance with the currently valid French classification. Different scenarios of storage are being studied.

The tritium will have to be delivered to the ITER site. This may be carried out using an already internationally certified container.

The socio-economic aspects of the set-up of ITER have been assessed. The local and regional authorities have expressed their strong support for the project and have actively participated in ongoing studies. The economic spin-offs in the event of ITER being built would be quite significant, for local as well as for European industry. These economic benefits will start during the 10-year construction phase and will be particularly significant during the 20 years of operation.

The cost of additional infrastructures to the standard site defined by the ITER team or the adaptation of the installation is assessed at less than 3% of the ITER project investment cost.

In conclusion, the Cadarache site satisfies all the ITER requirements.
The cost of adapting the site and the surrounding areas is lower than 3% of the total investment cost of ITER.
Cadarache seems to be remarkably well suited to host ITER. The site has great experience in running nuclear installations and has 20 years of international level expertise on research into magnetic fusion.
Moreover, the region, particularly attractive from the point of view of its way of life, and stands to attract the greatest fusion specialists in the world.

Cadarache as a European Site for ITER
Report on the Technical and Socio-economic Aspects, 27 September 2001(146 pages, pdf, 5 477 ko, )

• Contents (p1-8, pdf, 234 ko)
• Executive Summary (p9-22, pdf, 774 ko)
• 1 - Background information (p 23-24, pdf, 76 ko)
• 2 - The ITER project (p 25-52, pdf, 854 ko)
• 3 - The Cadarache site (p 53-72, pdf, 1 797 ko)
• 4 - Licensing ITER in France (p 73-109, pdf, 382 ko)
• 5 - Socio-economy (p 111-140, pdf, 2 222 ko)
• 6 - Schedule for ITER construction at Cadarache (p 141-142, pdf, 95 ko)
• 7 - Conclusions (p 143-146, pdf, 95 ko)

© CEA 2001 - All rights reserved