France hosts futuristic nuclear fusion project
An international consortium chose France today as the site for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor – a project developers hope will one day generate endless, cheap energy by reproducing the sun’s power source and wean the world off fossil fuels.
France beat out Japan to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, which is also backed by the US, China, the European Union, Russia and South Korea.
Nuclear fusion produces no greenhouse gas emissions and only low levels of radioactive waste.
“This is a great success for France, for Europe and for all of the partners in the ITER,” French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement issued minutes after the announcement in Moscow.
“The international community will now be able to take on an unprecedented scientific and technological challenge, which opens great hopes for providing humanity with an energy that has no impact on the environment and is practically inexhaustible,” he said.
Officials say with the site issue resolved, project participants will now negotiate the construction details and sign a final agreement hopefully by the end of the year. Construction should be completed by about 2014. At stake are some 10,000 jobs.
Fusion, which powers the sun and 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.
Also, while fossil fuels are expected to run short in about 50 years, the reactor would run on an isotope of hydrogen, a virtually boundless source of fuel that can be extracted from water.
“We are all dealing with the question of how to address a sustainable and also environmentally friendly energy source for the future, and fusion is extremely promising,” EU Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik said after the talks.
The six parties in the project’s consortium had been divided over where to put the test reactor and competition was intense. At stake are billions of euro in research funding, construction and engineering contracts.
Japan, the US and South Korea wanted the facility built at Rokkasho in northern Japan. Russia, China and the European Union wanted it at Cadarache, in southern France.
The EU argued that Cadarache, one of the biggest civil nuclear research centres in Europe, has existing technical support facilities and expertise for the project, thus reducing the risks.
Japanese newspaper reports had said Tokyo was prepared to give up hosting the ITER project in return for a bigger research and operations role in the project. The deal concluded today assured Tokyo of that role.
“Japan is happy and sad at the same time. We decided to overcome the sorrow and turn the sorrow into joy. Japan in the future will be ready to make contribution to the development of fusion energy,” said Nariaki Nakayama, Japan’s minister for education, science and technology.
The EU and Japan have reached an agreement on a broader co-operation in developing fusion energy to make it a commercially viable source of energy.
