Is the dream of nuclear fusion dead?
Why the international experimental reactor is in ‘big trouble’
It was a project that promised the sun.
Researchers would use the world’s most advanced technology to design a machine that could generate atomic fusion,
the process that drives the stars
– and so create a source of cheap, non-polluting power.
That was initially the aim of the 
️International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ️
( #Iter ) which 35 countries
– including European states, China, Russia and the US
– agreed to build at Saint-Paul-lez-Durance in southern France
at a starting cost of $6bn.
Work began in 2010, with a commitment that there would be energy-producing reactions by 2020.
Then cost overruns, Covid, corrosion of key parts, last-minute redesigns and confrontations with nuclear safety officials triggered delays that
mean #Iter is not going to be ready for another decade,
it has just been announced.
Worse, energy-producing fusion reactions will not be generated until 2039, while Iter’s budget
– which has already soared to $20bn
– will increase by a further $5bn.
Other estimates suggest the final price tag could rise well above this figure
and make Iter
“the most delayed and most cost-inflated science project in history”,
the journal Scientific American has warned.
For its part, the journal Science has stated simply that Iter is now in “big trouble”,
while Nature has noted that the project has been “plagued by a string of hold-ups, cost overruns and management issues”.
Dozens of private companies now threaten to create fusion reactors on a shorter timescale, warn scientists.
These include #Tokamak #Energy in Oxford
and #Commonwealth #Fusion #Systems in the US.
“The trouble is that Iter has been going on for such a long time, and suffered so many delays,
that the rest of the world has moved on,” said fusion expert Robbie Scott of the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.
“A host of new technologies have emerged since Iter was planned. That has left the project with real problems
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/03/is-the-dream-of-nuclear-fusion-dead-why-the-international-experimental-reactor-is-in-big-trouble?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
