Fusion is in!

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Leading nations sign $12.8bn deal to develop fusion reactor

By Christine Ollivier, Paris

 

NATIONS representing half the world’s population signed a long-awaited, $12.8 billion pact yesterday for a nuclear fusion reactor that could revolutionise global energy use for future generations.

 

The ITER project by the United States, the European Union, China, India, Russia, Japan and South Korea will attempt to combat global warming by harnessing the fusion process that runs the sun, creating an alternative to polluting fossil fuels.

 

But the project is still only experimental and will take decades to get going — and environmental groups say it may not even work.

 

French President Jacques Chirac, who hosted the signing at the Elysee Palace in Paris, praised the attempt to “tame solar fire to meet the challenge of ecological energy”.

 

‘‘The growing shortage of resources and the battle against global warming demand a revolution in our ways of production and consumption,’’ Chirac said.

 

‘‘We have the duty to start research that will prepare energy solutions for our descendants.’’

 

Raymond Orbach of the US Department of Energy said: “This energy represents the hope of the world.”

 

Fusion reproduces the sun’s power source and produces no greenhouse gas emissions and only low levels of radioactive waste.

 

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor will be built in Cadarache in the southern French region of Provence. It is expected to create about 10,000 jobs and take about eight years to build.

 

Some 400 scientists from around the world would operate the reactor, and officials hope to set up a demonstration power plant in Cadarache around 2040. If it works, only then could the energy be made commercially available.

 

Officials involved in the project say 10%-20% of the world’s energy could come from fusion by the end of the century.

 

The EU will pay 50% of the cost to build the experimental reactor, with the six other parties contributing 10% each.

 

Fusion, which powers stars, involves colliding atoms at extremely high temperatures and pressure inside a reactor. When the atoms fuse into a plasma they release energy that can be harnessed to generate electricity. While fossil fuels will run short, the reactor would run on an isotope of hydrogen, a virtually endless fuel source that can be extracted from water.

 

While Chirac praised the international cooperation that led to the project, it has faced multiple delays because of internal disagreements — over the choice of the site, financing and reactor design.

 

Environmental activists, who generally oppose nuclear power, have argued that the project is too costly and would divert attention from current efforts to fight global warming.