The international Iter nuclear fusion reactor enters a decisive phase. On Tuesday it was started in the South of France, Saint-Paul-lès-Durance officially with the installation of the gigantic research reactor. “Iter is a promise of peace and progress,” said the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, in a virtual Celebration on the occasion of the construction phase. Nuclear fusion allows for a “eco-friendly, carbon-free, safe and practically waste-free energy”, said the head of state in a pre-recorded video message.
The controversial Prestige project was launched in 2006. 35 countries are involved: in addition to all EU member States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) aims to demonstrate on a large scale, such as the fusion of atomic nuclei, energy can be generated. Conventional nuclear power plants gain energy from the fission of atomic nuclei. A nuclear fusion is a considerable amount of energy is necessary, since the hydrogen isotopes must be heated to 150 million degrees. Nuclear fusion to be a long-term Alternative to the combustion of fossil fuels and the controversial nuclear fission.
The costs have tripled
the virtual Celebration on Tuesday, government representatives from all seven participating countries. President of South Korea, Moon Jae In spoke of the “biggest science project in the history of mankind”. The partner States to connect the “common dream of the extraction of a clean and secure energy to 2050”.
The huge experimental reactor “Tokamak” will be as high as a four storey building and several hundred tons of weigh. In the past few months components, among others, from India, China, Japan, South Korea and Italy were shipped to France. 2300 workers are now put together. The Assembly will likely be by the end of 2024 to complete, said Iter Director Bernard Bigot.
at the Earliest, the end of 2025, he could commence operations, and by 2035 its full performance. Iter is a research reactor is, however. The results should be conclusive, you could go for a fusion reactor according to his model, at the earliest, 2060 connected to the grid.
But the project is controversial: environmentalists see it as a “financial bottomless pit” and a “scientific delusion”. The project is lagging five years behind schedule, the original cost of triple, in the meantime, to almost 20 billion euros tripled.