After 14 years, world鈥檚 largest nuclear puzzle coming together
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Fourteen years after receiving the official go-ahead, scientists on Tuesday began assembling a giant machine in southern France designed to demonstrate that nuclear fusion, the process which powers the sun, can be a safe and viable energy source on Earth.
The groundbreaking multinational experiment, known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, has seen components arrive in the tiny commune of Saint-Paul-les-Durance from production sites worldwide in recent months.
They will now be painstakingly put together to complete what is described by ITER as the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 largest puzzle.鈥
The experimental plant鈥檚 goal is to demonstrate that fusion power can be generated sustainably, and safely, on a commercial scale, with initial experiments set to begin in December 2025.
Fusion powers the sun and other stars when light atomic nuclei fuse together to form heavier ones, releasing huge amounts of energy in doing so.
The challenge is to build a machine which can harness this energy which is meant to be held in place in the reactor vessel and controlled by an immensely strong magnetic field.
鈥淲ith fusion, nuclear holds promise for the future,鈥 French President Emmanuel Macron said in a message broadcast to an event on Tuesday to mark the official start of assembly.
It promises 鈥渃lean, no-carbon, safe and practically waste-free energy,鈥 added the president, who has long advocated nuclear power in the global fight against climate change driven by the greenhouse gases produced from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
South Korea鈥檚 President Moon Jae-in, for his part, hailed 鈥渢he biggest international science project in human history,鈥 which he said offered hope of a clean, safe energy source as soon as 2050.
The ITER project was launched in 2006 by 35 countries including the United States, Russia, China, Britain, Switzerland, India, Japan, South Korea and the 27 members of the European Union.
鈥淔usion is safe, with minute amounts of fuel and no physical possibility of a run-away accident with meltdown鈥 as with traditional nuclear power stations, the partners said in a statement.
A further advantage: the fuel for fusion and lithium to help manage the reaction is found in seawater and is abundant enough to supply humanity for millions of years.
鈥淎 pineapple-sized amount of this fuel is the equivalent of 10,000 tons of coal,鈥 the partners said.
ITER, the world鈥檚 largest experimental fusion facility, is meant to produce about 500 megawatts of thermal power, equivalent to some 200 megawatts of electric energy if operated continuously, enough to supply 200,000 homes.
Its Tokamak reactor will comprise about 1 million components, some like its hugely powerful superconducting magnets standing as high as a four-floor building.
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