GDES Revanti has completed a major contract with Fusion for Energy (F4E) to coat and paint the Tokamak Complex with excellent results in terms of planning and execution.

Five years of manual work, more than 40 specialists and 200,000 m2 surface area coated in accordance with all the strict nuclear safety requirements for the largest experimental fusion project in the world. At the ITER Tokamak Complex, comprising three interconnected buildings, the complex painting and coating work was completed on time and on budget, despite the Covid pandemic that affected the entire population worldwide in 2020. An outstanding example of joint planning and international cooperation between FUSION FOR ENERGY (F4E), GDES Revanti and FUSION FOR ENERGY (F4E) and the Engage and EnergHIA consortia, which provided technical and administrative support, respectively.

FUSION FOR ENERGY (F4E), the EU organisation that handles the EU’s contribution to the ITER project and the construction of the platform buildings, commissioned the GDES Surface Treatment Unit (GDES Revanti) to apply specific coatings on the building under construction, which will house the ITER machine, and its annex buildings.

Throughout this major project, GDES was tasked with applying different types of coatings, combining work with scaffolding, auxiliary resources and working at height in the Tokamak, Tritium and Diagnostic (TB19) buildings, in addition to additional tasks such as the fire-protection coating in the Radiofrequency Building.

 

 

“These operations would have been difficult enough in an empty facility. However, we also had to coordinate constantly with other operations in the same buildings,” explained Marian Sanchez, project manager at F4E, pointing out the difficulty of the painting work during the pandemic, and with the movement and installation of large components in the buildings. “Our partners showed a sense of responsibility, always prioritising the project above their own interests and delivering high-quality work. Thanks to teamwork and flexibility, we all made a highly challenging contract look easy,” stressed Sánchez.

For Héctor Dominguis, President and CEO of GDES, “we are proud of our achievements at ITER, in a relationship that represented a turning point for our Group. It has been more of a partnership than a customer-supplier relationship, with an approach that will inspire other large-scale projects”.

GDES Revanti applied various coatings in the facility, notably:

• Decontaminable and non-decontaminable coatings.
• Anti-carbonation coatings.
• Coatings with high chemical resistance and heavy traffic resistance.
• Coatings highly resistant to irradiation.
• Coatings with additional electrostatic conductivity requirements.
• Coatings resistant to oils and specific chemical elements.

All the coatings and the various applications had to meet unique EDF standards for radiation resistance, non-flammability and easy decontamination, to ensure safe working conditions over the lifetime of the facility.

 

The successful completion of this complex project was celebrated by all members and companies involved.

For GDES Revanti the end of this adventure is a further step in our collaboration with F4E and our teams remain at the ©ITER Organisation facilities continuing with new and different painting and surface treatment projects. Thank you F4E and ©ITER Organisation for your trust.