The team of European engineering firms which last month won a $200-million design contract for a nuclear-power research complex to be built in southern France, with a cadre of global sponsors, already is starting work, officials say. The engineering award for the $13- billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is the project’s largest contract awarded to date and one of the largest design awards of any kind in Europe.
The contract will cover design of some 30 buildings, supporting infrastructure and engineering oversight of construction, which will last for eight to possibly 11 years, say officials at Fusion for Energy (F4E), the project’s Barcelona, Spain-based owner. Winning the contract is the ENGAGE Consortium, which will employ some 230 people at the job’s peak.