The ITER Organization is supported by 7 domestic Agencies (European Union, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States).
ITER: Earth's most ambitious energy project.
Cadarache, France
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor demonstrates the feasibility of a nuclear fusion reactor that can generate unlimited, clean power for all.
Client
F4E – ITER
Timeline
2011 - 2030
Benefit
- Testing the feasibility of nuclear fusion
- Potential for unlimited, clean energy
- Accelerating the move away from fossil fuels
Expected outcomes
- 500MW of energy produced
- Renewable, low-cost power
Introducing ITER.
Meeting humanity's energy needs.
500megawatts
ITER will produce high amounts of fusion power.
150 million degrees
Fusion occurs at extreme temperatures.
Unlimited clean energy
It offers carbon-free energy.
The challenge.
A large, complex project with novel technologies.
ITER will be one of the world's most significant pieces of energy infrastructure. It aims to test an as-yet unproven method of large scale energy production.
The programme consists of building the infrastructure of the half-hectare platform, some 40 industrial buildings, including two nuclear facilities.
One structure will house the Tokamak, a 30-metre-high fusion machine weighing 25,000 tonnes. The other will be a plant for the preparation and reprocessing of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen.
Meeting rigorous safety requirements
The new structures will need to house a substantial amount of process equipment. They must be designed to withstand a wide range of accident scenarios; earthquakes, leakages in the cooling system, loss of vacuum in the Tokamak vessel and more.
The programme, therefore, incorporates many safety requirements.
Thousands of collaborators
An enormous project, ITER requires contributions from multiple organisations around the world.
For example, the BIM model features over 200,000 elements, while the project has generated over 10,000 documents accessed by 1,000s of people. Ensuring smooth and efficient collaboration on such a large project is challenging.
Imagine.
State of the art engineering.
Our experience with building multiple nuclear facilities and scientific testing centres means we can bring specialised expertise to this unique area of infrastructure. Between 2011 and 2025, Egis as part of the ENGAGE consortium (Egis / Assystem / Atkins / Empresarios Agrupados) was involved in all aspects of the project from design to delivery, in particular:
- Architecture
- Roadwork and various networks
- Civil engineering
- MEP (Mechanical, electrical and plumbing)
- From preliminary studies to execution studies
In 2025, Egis in consortium with Assystem and Empresarios Agrupados won the second phase of the ITER Architect Engineer contract. The 6+3 years contract, awarded to Egis within b.NEXT consortium, includes design and consultancy activities including:
- Preliminary design of new buildings on ITER site.
- Detailed design for all engineering disciplines, including integration optimization and execution design.
- Construction management and site supervision to handover stage.
- Nuclear safety, PMO (Project Management Office) including configuration management.
We are also working collaboratively with the client and partners to manage the project and its construction.
Applying our BIM expertise
We have deep knowledge of nuclear building engineering, earthquake engineering, digital data modelling (BIM) and managing large-scale projects.
3D models play a key role in the design of cutting-edge facilities like the ITER. Thanks to our BIM expertise, we are responsible for controlling and managing the data acquisition and configuration of the building model. We can track and update thousands of changes made to the 3D model.
Create.
Managing a major engineering project.
As part of the ENGAGE consortium, we have played a significant role in all phases of this world-first project and will continue to do so in the b.NEXT project.
At the outset, our technical engineers used BIM to generate 3D models of some 40 buildings (industrial buildings, nuclear facilities, and technical galleries) . This involved the generation of more than 8,000 3D models and 10 million components.
We used ANSYS software to design the state of the art Tokamak Complex building, which includes 173,000 nodes and 220,000 elements. It also included the innovative design of a reinforcement shell to house the nuclear fusion reactor.
Orchestrating 3D model design
On such a large project, organising the engineering and construction around a 3D model, from data acquisition to configuration management, is a real challenge. Different national governments, engineers and companies used different design techniques and standards. Orchestrating between all participants requires continual communication and creating a continually updated 'single version of the truth' in a central 3D model.
Achieve.
Building the world's largest nuclear fusion reactor.
When the project is completed in 2025, the ITER will be the largest of its kind in the world. As long-term collaborators on this major project, we have helped design with maximum safety in mind to eliminate the risks of earthquakes, accidents or physical attacks. This has seen our highly experienced technical engineers work at the cutting edge of nuclear facility design, creating new structures never seen before to make the complex more resilient.
Throughout the process, we have succeeded in continually updating and maintaining tens of thousands of documents, 2D plans and 3D BIM models in an organised, secure and centralised database. We have also managed a project bringing together a wide range of companies, building trades, suppliers and teams from multiple countries.
This research facility aligns with our values: a world with carbon-free energy. If successful, the ITER could provide a template for generating cheap, safe electricity for the world.
