ITER: Fusion Power in France in This Decade?

[Recusant]

I think it's definitely worthwhile to pursue this, and perhaps it will produce a good result.

"Power from an artificial sun: Fusion reactor project aims to provide clean energy" | France24

The assembly of the ITER fusion reactor began in the south of France this week in what has been called the biggest science project in human history. It is hoped the reactor will be able to produce clean energy using the same process that fuels the sun.

ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is an international project that hopes to create clean energy from hydrogen fusion, the same process that occurs naturally in the heart of the sun.

Fusion will be obtained through a mixture of two hydrogen isotopes, heated to a temperature of around 150 million degrees.

"In this space we are going to have a machine in the heart of which a small sun will burn, to put it very simply. This small sun will generate energy. We will use that energy to create electricity," ITER spokesperson Robert Arnoux told AFP.

A long sought-after alternative to fossil fuels such as coal and gas, hydrogen fusion generates no long-term waste, says ITER, while the fuels needed to create fusion are found in seawater and lithium, and so readily available.

ITER should start producing energy at the end of 2025 or early 2026 but only on an experimental basis. It will be a number of years before it is capable of supplying usable electricity.

[Continues . . .]

[Dark Lightning]

I wish them well. A sustained fusion reactor has been 20 years away from fruition for about 50 years. We discussed fusion reactors in my physics classes in the '70s. As the technology advances, the probability that we'll get a usable reactor increases.

[Tank]

I can just hear "It's nuclear, it's bad!" crowd right now. Trying to explain the difference between fission and fusion will be an f'ing nightmare.

[Tom62]

I do hope that they get it to work. As long as I
can remember fission energy was always two decades away.