ITER: Hope for the Future

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project is moving forward again, after almost two years of stalemate over where to build the reactor. Although ITER, which will be built in France and is scheduled to be operational by 2015, will not generate electricity, it is expected to produce substantially more energy than it consumes. ITER is expected to pave the way for the first commercial nuclear fusion power plants by mid-century.

Of course, every big project is associated with a lot of bureaucratic waste and some real technical problems. So it's not surprising that ITER has opponents. The U.S. even withdrew from the project at one point and then joined again a few years later. I must admit, however, that I am glad to see progress here, even if the current progress is only political. If we eventually figure out how to generate a substantial fraction of our electrical power from nuclear fusion, then we shall have served our descendants well.