ENR – In a Test of Technology, the Largest-Ever Fusion Reactor Rises in France
ENR – In a Test of Technology, the Largest-Ever Fusion Reactor Rises in France
By Peter Reina | 22 March 2012
With no time to wait for esoteric designs for the largest-ever nuclear fusion reactor to take final shape, engineers are pushing ahead with $1.3 billion worth of building and infrastructure construction at a plant site in Cadarache, France.
Urgent work to finalize relatively mundane wall-and-slab design fits uneasily with project development by teams spread around the globe for the experimental Tokomak magnetic containment device, which is at the center of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program.
With backing from China, Russia, South Korea, India, the European Union and the U.S., the project is under the overall control of ITER Organisation, Cadarache. Because financial support is both in cash and in kind, the final cost is not precisely known but is estimated at around $20 billion, says spokesman Aris Apollonatos. The EU has committed $8.6 billion.
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