IFMIF-DONES site preparation activities and implementation of laboratories (2020-2023)

To strengthen support for the IFMIF-DONES bid in Granada, the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the Regional Government of Andalusia have mobilized more than €32 million, taking advantage of co-financing with European ERDF funds, to cover the initial activities at the Escúzar site (Granada). The Spanish government is investing €16,300,000 and the Regional Government of Andalusia is contributing another €16,300,000. The first contribution takes the form of the DONES-PRIME project, carried out by CIEMAT and managed by the Ministry of Research, Science and Innovation, while the second has taken the form of the DONES UGR project, carried out by the University of Granada and managed by the Regional Government of Andalusia.

The scope of the DONES-PRIME project includes the following activities:

A-Building

• Construction of three buildings with service connections and development of the surrounding areas.

B-Laboratories

• Design and installation of the IFMIF-DONES Liquid Metals Laboratory.
• Design and installation of the IFMIF-DONES Radiofrequency Laboratory.

C-Characterization of the IFMIF-DONES site

• Topographic survey.
• Geotechnical studies.
• DONES-Escúzar experimental weather station.
• Seismic and seismic isolation studies.

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A-Building

The project includes the construction of the first three buildings of the IFMIF-DONES facility, as well as the development of the surrounding areas and the connection of the necessary services.

Work began on September 15, 2022. The contract was awarded to Edhinor S.A. The project management was carried out by San Juan Arquitectura S.L.

BUILDING 1 (administration)

Its floor plan is a broken line in three sections, facing the main avenue (Avda. de Escúzar) and the internal road leading into the complex. This building will house 160 office workstations for IFMIF-DONES project employees, 12 meeting rooms, and a series of multipurpose spaces. The building has a porticoed ground floor, where the entrance halls and vertical communication cores are located. The different rooms are distributed along the facades on the first, second, and third floors.

BUILDING 2 (warehouse)

This building has been designed to be used as a warehouse during the installation and operation of IFMIF-DONES. It is expected that in the initial stage it will be able to house laboratories. It is an industrial warehouse with two large doors for truck access, as well as several pedestrian doors and an outdoor loading area. Inside, it has a bridge crane for moving heavy objects. A second two-story volume will house small workshops, offices, restrooms, medical services, and technical rooms for facilities.

BUILDING 3 (access control)

This building has a waiting room for processing visitor entry, a control room, and a surveillance room.

B-Laboratories

LIQUID METALS LABORATORY

The objective of the CIEMAT Lithium Technologies Circuit (LITEC) is to validate the design of the IFMIF-DONES Impurity Control System. This is a 1:1 scale prototype of this system, equipped with a nitrogen trap, hydrogen trap, cold trap, impurity meters, and an impurity injector. The simultaneous operation of the impurity traps and associated instrumentation will be studied under the conditions established at IFMIF-DONES. With a total volume of 650 liters of lithium, it is currently one of the largest lithium circuits in the world.

The contract for the design and manufacture of this circuit was awarded to the company Empresarios Agrupados Internacional. Originally, the circuit was to be installed in the warehouse building constructed as part of this same project on the plot designated for IFMIF-DONES. However, due to delays in the availability of the buildings, it has finally been located on an adjacent plot, in the building known as “DONES-UGR,” owned by the University of Granada.

The circuit was installed in 2024. The control system is being installed and tested in 2025.

RADIOFREQUENCY LABORATORY

The Radiofrequency Laboratory will house a set of high-power RF systems. The equipment in this laboratory includes four solid-state amplifiers and their auxiliary systems, purchased from BTESA S.A. as part of this project, as well as equipment developed by CIEMAT with other sources of funding.

C-Characterization of the IFMIF-DONES site

The plot where IFMIF-DONES is being built is located in the Granada Metropolitan, Industrial, and Technological Park, in the municipality of Escúzar, and has a total area of approximately 10 hectares in the shape of a trapezoid measuring approximately 360 m x 270 m. The DONES-PRIME project has included the site studies necessary to advance with the design of the buildings and carry out the safety analyses required to obtain the mandatory licenses.

Meteorological studies provide the data needed to assess the impact and scope of the release of pollutants into the atmosphere. Geotechnical and seismic studies have provided the site data necessary for the structural definition of the DONES buildings, the preparation of equipment support specifications, and the calculations required for the license.

Geotechnical and Topographical Studies:

The following studies have been carried out:

Topographical study of the IFMIF-DONES plot and survey of drainage works (Horus Topografía)

Geotechnical study of the area where the first three buildings will be constructed (Codexsa S.A.)

Geotechnical study of the entire IFMIF-DONES plot (Labson S.A.) and interpretation of the data obtained (Ingesuelo). This work included 42 boreholes and 9 test pits.

Drilling of two deep vertical boreholes and ground auscultation with a sonic probe (Cemosa S.A.)

In particular, for the main accelerator building, three geotechnical units have been identified through testing:

• UG-1: Neogene-Quaternary material consisting of detrital sediments and clayey loams with the presence of brownish-reddish silts, between 0.3 m and 2 m. This layer must be completely excavated during the execution of the building’s foundation and subsequent installation of seismic isolators.
• UG-2: Brownish, slightly silty clayey marl with lenticular gypsum deposits, between 8.5 m and 20 m thick.
• UG-3: Brownish-gray clayey marl with predominantly nodular and lenticular gypsum intercalations, up to a depth of 100 m.

Based on all the tests carried out, several stratigraphic profiles have been drawn up for the Main Building area, three along the longitudinal direction of the building and three transverse. The properties and characteristics of the soils have been analyzed, and the geotechnical parameters to be used in the design and calculation of the foundation have been proposed. Some of the measuring equipment has been permanently installed on the IFMIF-DONES site.

The deep boreholes reached depths of 254 m and 362 m. It was not possible to drill down to the rocky substrate (dolomitic), and work was halted at a level of grayish marl with a relatively high degree of compactness due to the terrain conditions. Sonic logging was carried out with a complete probe in both boreholes to determine the shear wave velocity (VS) and compression wave velocity (VP) profiles throughout their entire depth.

Meteorological studies. DONES-Escúzar experimental environmental station:

The company Intermet has designed and built a meteorological station (called the METEO-DONES Experimental Environmental Station) on the plot of land intended to house IFMIF-DONES, in order to collect the data necessary for the various studies and licenses. Web link.

This is an automatic station for observing meteorological variables in the subsoil, on the surface, and in the lower layers of the atmosphere, distributed across a 10-meter tower. Specifically, it measures the temperature and relative humidity of the air and soil, wind speed and direction, precipitation, evaporation, and insolation. This facility has made it possible to begin building a history of in-situ observations that will be of vital importance for the operation of IFMIF-DONES. The data collected and the facility itself may serve to support other research initiatives related to meteorology and climate in the region. For example, a hydrological laboratory has been set up at the station to study sustainable urban drainage systems, in collaboration with the University of Granada.

Seismic studies:

The region of the municipality of Escúzar is considered a zone of moderate seismicity, with a predominance of “slow” faults. The studies carried out within the framework of this operation complement the information already existing in the databases of the National Geographic Institute and the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain.

Specifically, knowledge of the seismicity of the area has been updated and completed, with a detailed study of the Southern Escúzar Fault, close to the site, and the consideration and updating of all seismic events to date. This work has been carried out by the company Geolyder-Everest. The company Belgar has also carried out a detailed analysis of seismic hazard, taking into account all the seismicity data for the area and information on the local response of the terrain provided by field measurement campaigns, within the geotechnical studies.

Seismic isolation studies:

To ensure the best operating conditions for IFMIF-DONES, the main building, which will house the experiment, will be seismically isolated. The optimal formula for undertaking this isolation has been studied. This study, carried out by a specialist manufacturer of isolating elements (Mageba), has also included the testing and qualification processes for the alternatives considered.

Furthermore, in 2023, the company Esteyco was awarded a tender to study the impact of seismicity on the structural design of the main IFMIF-DONES building. The results of this study provide relevant data for the construction project for this building.