This paper describes the buildings and balance of plant systems required to support the Fusion Ignition Research Experiment (FIRE) Project. Facilities and systems are developed on the basis of a “greenfield” site, with no benefit for existing facilities, but also without any constraints on the potential arrangement. Because FIRE will operate deuterium-tritium plasmas for pulse lengths on the order of 20 seconds, FIRE will require a moderate on-site tritium inventory. FIRE buildings and systems must be designed and licensed to comply with regulations for nuclear facilities. They must also include systems to manage tritium and tritiated water, activated dust, and radioactive waste material. Maintenance activities on FIRE will require the use of remote handling systems to remove and transport tokamak parts to hot cell facilities. Major tokamak service connections will be required to feed power to the copper magnet system and deliver plasma-heating energy to ICRF antennae. Competition for access to the tokamak for service connections and repair activities will constrain the overall arrangement and routing of services.

This paper examines the design implications for the fuel supply, vacuum pumping, fuel recovery, cooling, and other balance of plant systems that contribute to the control of radioactive materials. It also examines the design implications for the tokamak test cell, hot cells, structures to house key services, and routing of service connections to the tokamak. Site requirements, a generic site plan, and conceptual building arrangements are provided.