Fusion now or never

2000/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Energia

Researchers working around nuclear fusion have pointed out that the time has come to make the final decision. After the presentation of the latest design, it is requested that it be accepted or rejected forever. The designed reactor will cost $4 billion (80 billion pesetas, £26 billion). However, it is twice as economic as the model proposed above. Researchers believe that no less can be done and the plan presented is the only way to continue the research program. The Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER) began its preparation in 1986 between the United States, Europe, Japan and the Soviet Union. But by 1998, when design was introduced, the political environment had changed radically: Russia had no money to move forward and the United States suspended cooperation. The ITER project that is now presented is smaller, but nevertheless it will produce 10 times more energy than the energy consumed.