VIDEO: $24 billion nuclear fusion experiment that could lead to unlimited energy is now 50% complete
The 'world's most complex machine' takes shape: $24 billion nuclear fusion experiment that could lead to unlimited energy is now 50% complete
In the middle of the rising Tokamak Building a well is preserved for the ITER machine. While ITER won't generate electricity, scientists hope it will demonstrate that such a fusion reactor can produce more energy than it consumes. Assembly activities will proceed in a bottom-up fashion, beginning with captive components down in the basement levels, then the base of the cryostat, vacuum vessel sectors, magnets and an estimated one million components (ten million individual parts) will be integrated into the world's largest tokamak.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, is being built in southern France
It has been dogged by delays and a surge in costs to about 20 billion euros ($23.7 billion)
It is designed to show a fusion reactor can produce more energy than it consumes
The project is now on track to begin superheating hydrogen atoms in 2025 - known as 'first plasma'
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 17:07 GMT, 6 December 2017
A vast international experiment designed to demonstrate that nuclear fusion can be a viable source of energy is halfway toward completion, the organization behind the project said Wednesday.
Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in southern France has been dogged by delays and a surge in costs to about 20 billion euros ($23.7 billion).
Cranes stand at the construction site of the ITER ( the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in Cadarache, southern France.
Only two levels remain to be poured before the bioshield is complete. Each opening in the circular wall (corresponding to a similar opening in the cryostat and the vacuum vessel) will provide access for systems and equipment
ITER's director-general, Bernard Bigot, said the project is on track to begin superheating hydrogen atoms in 2025, a milestone known as 'first plasma.'
The project's members - China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States - settled on a design that uses a doughnut-shaped device called a tokamak to trap hydrogen that's been heated to 150 million degrees Celsius (270 million Fahrenheit) for long enough to allow atoms to fuse together.
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