Supervision and validation of the foundation conditions of ITER buildings
France
ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) aims to show that nuclear fusion can be a viable future energy source. The project is thought to be one of the biggest technological and technical challenges ever faced. The purpose of the geotechnical works supervision mission of the ITER buildings is to check the conformity and validate the detailed geotechnical works design and design and follow-up phases regarding compliance with good engineering practice, in order to help control geological risks. This project is carried out in consortium with Halcrow and Altran.
The works supervision undertaken by the consortium is divided into two phases: 1. Detailed works design (design phase) and 2. Detailed geotechnical works design (follow-up phase).
On the one hand, the supervisory phase of the detailed geotechnical works design is used to assure the contractor and owner that the documents drawn up as part of the detailed geotechnical works design comply with the geotechnical project provisions and are conform with project objectives. The consultancy services provided covers the definition and drawings of the geotechnical structures, their dimensions, works execution methods and conditions, as well as any change proposals that may be submitted if, at any time during the works execution, the geotechnical conditions be observed to differ from those considered during the detailed geotechnical works design.
On the other hand, supervisory phase of the detailed geotechnical works design (follow-up phase) is marked by a regular, discontinuous on-site intervention that makes it possible to assure the general contractor and the owner that the detailed geotechnical works design (follow-up phase), performed continuously and generally tasked to the contractor, can be used for real-time validation of the selected geological and geotechnical models, as well as for validating the similarity between the forecast and observed behavior of the structures and neighboring constructions (observational method in particular), with the aim of contributing to the control of geological risks.
