Giant international fusion project is in big trouble | Science | AAAS

The giant fusion reactor known as ITER will not turn on until 2034, 9 years later than currently scheduled, according to a new timeline the international organization announced this week. Energy producing fusion reactions—the goal of the project—won’t come until 2039, and only in short bursts, to satisfy safety concerns of the nuclear regulator in France, where ITER is under construction. Manufacturing faults, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the complexity of a first-of-a-kind machine have all slowed progress, ITER Director General Pietro Barabaschi said at a 3 July press conference. “We want to make up for past delays by starting with a more complete machine,” he said. With dozens of private fusion companies promising power production on shorter timescales, some say ITER may be obsolete by the time it turns on. “Look how people are voting with their feet,” says Dennis Whyte, a fusion scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “It’s like we can’t wait for this anymore.” By the

The giant fusion reactor known as ITER will not turn on until 2034, 9 years later than currently scheduled, according to a new timeline the international organization announced this week. Energy producing fusion reactions—the goal of the project—won’t come until 2039, and only in short bursts, to satisfy safety concerns of the nuclear regulator in France, where ITER is under construction. Manufacturing faults, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the complexity of a first-of-a-kind machine have all slowed progress, ITER Director General Pietro Barabaschi said at a 3 July press conference. “We want to ma