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It was one of the smallest pieces in the world’s largest science project that became Bernard Bigot’s most irritating obstacle in the coronavirus supply chain.
The 70-year-old physicist is responsible for ensuring that the US $ 22bil (RM94.55bil) ITER fusion reactor in France starts operating on time. His machine, which used over a million parts from 35 countries, was supposed to start testing in five years, at least that was the timeline before the pandemic hit.
Economies rely on the International Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor to demonstrate whether unlimited amounts of clean energy can be generated by mimicking the power that makes stars shine, a potential panacea to curb global warming on Earth.
“We had a tight schedule with our first big piece ready for installation when we noticed that the wedges had not yet arrived from India,” Bigot said in an interview with Bloomberg News from the ITER site an hour’s drive north of Marseille. .
The history of ITER’s missing wedges, simple bits of metal used to balance more complex pieces of machinery, illustrates how even the best contingency plans have had to be rewritten due to Covid-19, requiring executives like Bigot to come up with solutions. creative to keep the business going.
The former head of France’s atomic regulator said he spoke by phone with Indian officials and suppliers at Larsen & Toubro Ltd as soon as skeleton staff engineers of 700 ITER workers alerted him that the wedges were missing. It was the day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed travel restrictions on March 22, sealing the factory where special stainless steel wedges are produced in Hazira, India.
“Sometimes it’s better to authorize higher costs in the short term to mitigate much higher costs in the future,” Bigot said, explaining why ITER obtained permission from the Indian government to hire trucks for a 500-kilometer (311-mile) journey. to transport 7 tons of wedges to a rented plane bound for France.
About 70% of the work has been completed at ITER with the installation of the cryostat, a stainless steel chamber necessary to cool atomic reactions, which will begin on May 12. Wedges are necessary to safely house that equipment, the largest high-pressure vacuum ever built, so that the reactor can safely generate temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius (180 million degrees Fahrenheit).
“We still believe we can reach the first plasma in 2025,” said Bigot. “But it is too early to say because there are so many uncertainties around the coronavirus effect.”
The workshops in Italy, Germany and Spain have been closed for more than a month, crushing ITER’s plans to speed up construction, Bigot said. It will re-evaluate the project schedule and budget with ITER shareholders at a meeting in June.
“The bullet has already come out of the rifle,” he said. “There are still a lot of activities to do, but I hope it continues.”
The staff received face masks and protective gear to protect them from the virus. About 1,500 of the 2,300 project employees are back on site and the rest work remotely, according to Bigot, who said he is spending more time than ever managing supply chains.
Between scheduling transit time for a gigantic 342-wheeled trailer carrying giant pieces of equipment from the Port of Marsellies to ITER, Bigot said he recently received good news from Brussels and London, indicating that Britain will continue to participate in its project even after him. leaves the European Union.
“There is a common understanding to find a solution,” he said. – Bloomberg
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