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Encyclopedia > ITER
 This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events. It may contain tentative information; the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

ITER is an international tokamak (magnetic confinement fusion) research/engineering project designed to prove the scientific and technological feasibility of a full-scale fusion power reactor. ITER is intended to be an experimental step between today's studies of plasma physics and future electricity-producing fusion power plants. It builds upon research conducted on devices such as DIII-D, EAST, TFTR, JET, JT-60, and T-15, and will be considerably larger than any of them. Image File history File links Current_event_marker. ... A split image of the largest tokamak in the world, the JET, showing hot plasma in the right image during a shot. ... Magnetic confinement fusion is an approach to fusion energy that uses magnetic fields to confine the fusion fuel in the form of a plasma. ... Internal view of the JET tokamak superimposed with an image of a plasma taken with a visible spectrum video camera. ... A plasma lamp, illustrating some of the more complex phenomena of a plasma, including filamentation. ... DIII-D or D3-D is the name of a tokamak machine developed in the 1980s by General Atomics in San Diego, USA, as part of the ongoing effort to achieve magnetically confined fusion. ... The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST, internally called HT-7U) is a project being undertaken to construct an experimental superconducting tokamak magnetic fusion energy reactor in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province, in eastern China. ... The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) was an experimental fusion test reactor built at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (in Princeton, New Jersey) circa 1980. ... Split image of JET with right side showing hot plasma during a shot. ... JT-60 (JT stands for Japan Torus) is the flagship of Japans magnetic fusion program, run by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), and the Naka Fusion Research Establishment in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. ... The T-15 is a Russian nuclear fusion research reactor, based on the (Russian-invented) tokamak design. ...

On November 21, 2006, the seven participants formally agreed to fund the project.[1] The program is anticipated to last for 30 years—10 years for construction, and 20 years of operation—and cost approximately 10 billion (US\$12.1 billion), making it one of the most expensive modern technoscientific megaprojects. It will be based in Cadarache, France. It is technically ready to start construction and the first plasma operation is expected in 2016. November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... ITER is an international tokamak (magnetic confinement fusion) research project designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of a full-scale fusion power reactor. ... â€œEURâ€ redirects here. ... A megaproject is an extremely large scale investment project. ... Cadarache in Provence-Alpes-CÃ´te-dAzur, France is the site of the future international tokamak ITER. This was decided in a final meeting in Moscow on June 28, 2005. ... 2016 (MMXVI) will be a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

ITER is designed to produce approximately 500 MW (500,000,000 watts) of fusion power sustained for up to 500 seconds (compared to JET's peak of 16 MW for less than a second) by burning of about 0.5 g of D + T mixture in its ~840 m3 reactor chamber. A future fusion power plant would generate about 3000-4000 MW of thermal power. Although ITER will produce net power in the form of heat, the generated heat will not be used to generate any electricity. The megawatt (symbol: MW) is a unit for measuring power corresponding to one million (106) watts. ... The watt (symbol: W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one joule per second. ... Split image of JET with right side showing hot plasma during a shot. ...

According to the ITER consortium, fusion power offers the potential of "environmentally benign, widely applicable and essentially inexhaustible"[2][3] electricity, properties that they believe will be needed as world energy demands increase while simultaneously greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced,[4] justifying the expensive research project. Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... Top: Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels as measured in the atmosphere and ice cores. ...

ITER was originally an acronym standing for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor; that title was dropped to avoid the negative popular connotations of 'thermonuclear' and 'experimental'. 'Iter' also means 'the journey' or 'the path' in Latin, and this double meaning reflects ITER's role in harnessing nuclear fusion as a peaceful power source. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ... At the end of the 20th century, Thermonuclear has came to imply anything which has to do with fusion nuclear reactions which are triggered by particles of thermal energy. ... Experimental Related to experiment it is refered to ideas or techniques not yet stablished or finalized involving innovation. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... The deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reaction is considered the most promising for producing fusion power. ...

## Contents

The official objective of ITER is to "demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy for peaceful purposes". ITER has a number of specific objectives, all concerned with developing a viable fusion power reactor:

• To momentarily produce ten times more thermal energy from fusion heating than is supplied by auxiliary heating (a Q value of 10).
• To produce a steady-state plasma with a Q value of greater than 5.
• To maintain a fusion pulse for up to eight minutes.
• To ignite a 'burning' (self-sustaining) plasma.
• To develop technologies and processes needed for a fusion power plant — including superconducting magnets and remote handling (maintenance by robot).
• To verify tritium breeding concepts.
• To refine neutron shield/heat conversion technology (most of energy in the D+T fusion reaction is released in form of fast neutrons).

1. ... The fusion energy gain factor, usually expressed with the symbol Q, is the ratio of fusion power produced in a nuclear fusion reactor to the power required to maintain the plasma in steady state. ... A plasma lamp, illustrating some of the more complex phenomena of a plasma, including filamentation. ... Superconducting magnets are electromagnets that are built using superconducting coils. ... Tritium (symbol T or 3H) is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. ...

## Reactor overview

Technical Cutaway of the ITER Tokamak Torus encasing. Note the human figure for size comparison.

${}^{2}_{1}mbox{H} + {}^{3}_{1}mbox{H} rightarrow {}^{4}_{2}mbox{He} + {}^{1}_{0}mbox{n} + 17.6 mbox{ MeV}$

While in fact nearly all stable isotopes lighter on the periodic table than iron will fuse with some other isotope and release energy, deuterium and tritium are by far the most attractive for energy generation as they require the lowest energy to do so. Isotopes are atoms of a chemical element whose nuclei have the same atomic number, Z, but different atomic weights, A. The word isotope, meaning at the same place, comes from the fact that isotopes are located at the same place on the periodic table. ... The periodic table of the chemical elements is a tabular method of displaying the chemical elements, first devised by English analytical chemist John Newlands in 1863. ... General Name, Symbol, Number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ...

All proto- and mid-life stars radiate enormous amounts of energy generated by fusion processes. Mass for mass, the deuterium-tritium fusion process releases roughly three times as much energy as uranium 235 fission, and millions of times more energy than a chemical reaction such as the burning of coal. It is the goal of a fusion power plant to harness this energy to produce electricity.

The activation energy for fusion is so high because the protons in each nucleus will tend to strongly repel one another, as they each have the same positive charge. A heuristic for estimating reaction rates is that nuclei must be able to get within 1 femtometer (1 × 10−15 meter) of each other, where the nuclei are increasingly likely to undergo quantum tunnelling past the electrostatic barrier and the turning point where the strong nuclear force and the electrostatic force are equally balanced, allowing them to fuse. In ITER, this distance of approach is made possible by high temperatures and magnetic confinement. High temperatures give the nuclei enough energy to overcome their electrostatic repulsion (see Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution). For deuterium and tritium, the optimal reaction rates occur at temperatures on the order of 100,000,000 K. The plasma is heated to a high temperature by ohmic heating (running a current through the plasma). Additional heating is applied using neutral beam injection (which cross magnetic field lines without a net deflection and will not cause a large electromagnetic disruption) and radio frequency (RF) or microwave heating. In physics, the proton (Greek proton = first) is a subatomic particle with an electric charge of one positive fundamental unit (1. ... The elementary charge (symbol e or sometimes q) is the electric charge carried by a single proton, or equivalently, the negative of the electric charge carried by a single electron. ... Look up Heuristic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Femtometre (American spelling: femtometer) is an SI measure of length that is equal to 10&#8722;15 (femto) of a metre. ... Quantum tunnelling (or tunneling) is the quantum-mechanical effect of transitioning through a classically-forbidden energy state. ... Electrostatics is the branch of physics that deals with the force exerted by a static (i. ... A Feynman diagram of a strong proton-neutron interaction mediated by a neutral pion. ... Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ... The valence shell electron pair repulsion theory or VSEPR is a model in chemistry that aims to generally represent the shapes of individual molecules. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... The kelvin (symbol: K) is a unit increment of temperature and is one of the seven SI base units. ... In electronics, and in physics more broadly, Joule heating or ohmic heating refers to the increase in temperature of a conductor as a result of resistance to an electrical current flowing through it. ... In order to initiate a sustained fusion reaction, it is usually necessary to use many methods to heat the plasma, including RF heating, electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH), ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH), and of course neutral beam injection. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Radio waves. ... Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths longer than those of terahertz (THz) frequencies, but relatively short for radio waves. ...

At such high temperatures, particles have a vast kinetic energy, and hence velocity. If unconfined, the particles will rapidly escape, taking the energy with them, cooling the plasma to the point where net energy is no longer produced. A successful reactor would need to contain the particles in a small enough volume for a long enough time for much of the plasma to fuse. In ITER and many other magnetic confinement reactors, the plasma, a gas of charged particles, is confined using magnetic fields. A charged particle, when crossing a magnetic field, does not escape if left unperturbed. It simply spins around the magnetic field, in Larmor gyrorotation. The particle may move along the magnetic field unopposed by the field, but if the field is wrapped into a toroidal or doughnut shape, it is then confined. The kinetic energy of an object is the extra energy which it possesses due to its motion. ... The magnetic fusion energy (MFE) program seeks to establish the conditions to sustain a nuclear fusion reaction in a plasma that is contained by magnetic fields to allow the successful production of fusion power. ... Sir Joseph Larmor (July 11, 1857 - May 19, 1942), an Irish physicist, mathematician and politician, researched electricity, dynamics, and thermodynamics. ...

A solid confinement vessel is also needed, both to shield the magnets and other equipment from high temperatures and energetic photons and particles, and to maintain a near-vacuum for the plasma to populate. The containment vessel is subjected to a barrage of very energetic particles, where electrons, ions, photons, alpha particles, and neutrons constantly bombard the surface and degrade the structure. The material must be designed to stand-up to this environment for long enough so that an entire powerplant would be economical. Tests of such materials will be carried out both at ITER and at IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility). The International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility is an international scientific research program designed to test materials for suitability for use in a fusion reactor. ...

Once fusion has begun, high energy neutrons will radiate from the reactive regions of the plasma, crossing magnetic field lines easily due to charge neutrality (see neutron flux). Since it is the neutrons that receive the majority of the energy, they will be ITER's primary source of energy output. Ideally, alpha particles will expend their energy in the plasma, further heating it. neutron flux n : the rate of flow of neutrons; the number of neutrons passing through a unit area in unit time via dictionary. ...

Beyond the inner wall of the containment vessel one of several test blanket modules is to be placed. These modules are designed to slow and absorb neutrons in a reliable and efficient manner, limiting damage to the rest of the structure, and breeding tritium from lithium and the incoming neutrons for fuel. Energy absorbed from the fast neutrons is extracted and passed onto the primary coolant. This heat energy would then be used to power an electricity-generating turbine in a real power plant; however, in ITER this heat is not of scientific interest, and will be extracted and disposed of.

## History

ITER began in 1985 as a collaboration between the European Union (through EURATOM), the USA, then the Soviet Union and Japan. Conceptual and engineering design phases led to an acceptable, detailed design in 2001, underpinned by US\$650 million worth of research and development by the "ITER Parties" to establish its practical feasibility. These parties (with the Russian Federation replacing the Soviet Union and with the USA opting out of the project in 1999 and returning in 2003) were joined in negotiations on the future construction, operation and decommissioning of ITER by Canada (who then terminated their participation at the end of 2003), the People's Republic of China, and the Republic of Korea. India officially became part of ITER on 6 December 2005. The project is expected to cost about €10 billion (US\$13 billion) over its thirty year life. The European Atomic Energy Community, or EURATOM, is an international organisation composed of the members of the European Union. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 6 is the 340th day (341st on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The ITER design, as of 1993

On 28 June 2005, it was officially announced that ITER will be built in the European Union in Southern France. The negotiations that led to the decision ended in a compromise between the EU and Japan, in that Japan was promised 20 percent of the research staff on the French location of ITER, as well as the head of the administrative body of ITER. In addition, another research facility for the project will be built in Japan, and the European Union has agreed to contribute about 50% of the costs of this institution.[5] Image File history File links ITER fusion reactor cutout. ... Image File history File links ITER fusion reactor cutout. ... June 28 is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 186 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

On November 21, 2006, an international consortium signed a formal agreement to build the reactor.[6] November 21 is the 325th day of the year (326th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

ITER will run in parallel with a materials test facility, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF), which will develop materials suitable for use in the extreme conditions that will be found in future fusion power plants. Both of these will be followed by a demonstration power plant, DEMO, which would generate electricity. DEMO would be the first to produce electric energy for commercial use. The International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility, also known as IFMIF, is an international scientific research program designed to test materials for suitability for use in a fusion reactor. ... Look up demo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

A "fast track" road-map to a commercial fusion power plant has been sketched out.[7] This scenario, which assumes that ITER continues to demonstrate that the tokamak line of magnetic confinement is the most promising for power generation, anticipates a full-scale power plant coming on-line in 2050, potentially leading to a large-scale adoption of fusion power over the following thirty years. 2050 (MML) will be a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

## Location

On 3 May 2005, the EU and Japan agreed to a process which would settle their dispute by July. May 3 is the 123rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (124th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

At the final meeting in Moscow on 28 June 2005, the participating parties agreed on the site in Cadarache in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur, France. Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 kmÂ²  (417. ... June 28 is the 179th day of the year (180th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 186 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cadarache in Provence-Alpes-CÃ´te-dAzur, France is the site of the future international tokamak ITER. This was decided in a final meeting in Moscow on June 28, 2005. ... Capital Marseilles Area 31,400 kmÂ² Regional President Michel Vauzelle (PS) (since 1998) Population   - 2004 estimate   - 1999 census   - Density (Ranked 3rd) 4,666,000 4,506,151 149/kmÂ² (2004) Arrondissements 18 Cantons 237 Communes 963 DÃ©partements Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-Maritimes Bouches-du-RhÃ´ne Hautes-Alpes...

Construction of the ITER complex is planned to begin in 2008, while assembly of the tokamak itself is scheduled to begin in the year 2011.[8]

## Participants

Currently there are seven national and supranational parties participating in the ITER program: China, the European Union (EU), India, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the USA.[9] Portugal, a member of the EU, aims to include Brazil in the project via an agreement celebrated between the governments of both countries.[10]

Canada was previously a full member, but has since pulled out due to a lack of funding from the Federal government. The lack of funding also resulted in Canada withdrawing from its bid for the ITER site in 2003.

## Funding

As it stands now, the proposed costs are €10 billion for the construction of ITER, its maintenance and the research connected with it during its lifetime. At the June 2005 conference in Moscow the participating members of the ITER cooperation agreed on the following division of funding contributions: 50% by the hosting member, the European Union and 10% by each non-hosting member.[11] According to sources at the ITER meeting at Jeju, Korea, the six non-host partners will now contribute 6/11th of the total cost — a little over half — while the EU will put in the rest. As for the industrial contribution, five countries (China, India, Korea, Russia, and the US) will contribute 1/11th each for 5/11th total, Japan 2/11th, and EU 4/11th.[12] Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 kmÂ²  (417. ...

Note that although Japan's financial contribution as a non-hosting member is 1/11th of the total, the EU agreed to grant it a special status so that Japan will provide for 2/11th of the research staff at Cadarache and be awarded 2/11th of the construction contracts, while the European Union's staff and construction components contributions will be cut from 5/11th to 4/11th.

## Criticism

Bridget Woodman of Greenpeace said "Pursuing nuclear fusion and the ITER project is madness. Nuclear fusion has all the problems of nuclear power, including producing nuclear waste and the risks of a nuclear accident."[13] "Governments should not waste our money on a dangerous toy which will never deliver any useful energy," said Jan Vande Putte of Greenpeace International. "Instead, they should invest in renewable energy which is abundantly available, not in 2080 but today."[14] This criticism should be ignored, however, since Greenpeace will complain about almost anything. Greenpeace protest against Esso / Exxon Mobil. ... Greenpeace is an international environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971. ... World renewable energy in 2005 (except 2004 data for items marked* or **). Enlarge image to read exclusions. ...

French environmental groups said the project ITER, was "dangerous", "costly", and "not a job generator". A French association including about 700 anti-nuclear groups, Sortir du nucléaire (Get Out of Nuclear Energy), also claimed that ITER was a hazard because scientists did not yet know how to manipulate the high-energy deuterium and tritium hydrogen isotopes used in the fusion process.[15] The Sortir du nuclÃ©aire (nuclear phase-out) network, is a federation of over 720 anti-nuclear groups. ... Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a stable isotope of hydrogen with a natural abundance in the oceans of Earth of approximately one atom in 6500 of hydrogen (~154 PPM). ... Tritium (symbol T or 3H) is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ...

It is worth noting here that deuterium, D, is a stable isotope abundant in drinking water[citation needed](our body contains about 10 g of it[citation needed]), and the amount of short living (half-life ~12 years) radioactive tritium gas, T, in ITER reactor is only about 0.2 g[citation needed]- compared to hundreds of tons of several varieties of highly radioactive isotopes present at any commercial atomic reactor at any given time. In case of accidental loss of T (which is much lighter than air) it quickly rises into upper atmosphere where in such small amount it does not present any detectable hazard[citation needed].

The ITER project confronts numerous technically challenging issues. Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French Nobel laureate in Physics (though not a fusion specialist) is well known for saying: "We say that we will put the sun into a box. The idea is pretty. The problem is, we don't know how to make the box."[citation needed] Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (born October 24, 1932) is a French physicist and Nobel laureate. ... Hannes AlfvÃ©n (1908â€“1995) accepting the Nobel Prize for his work on magnetohydrodynamics [1]. List of Nobel Prize laureates in Physics from 1901 to the present day. ...

A technical concern is that the 14 MeV neutrons produced by the fusion reactions will damage the materials from which the reactor is built.[16] Research is in progress at IFMIF to determine how and/or if reactor walls can be designed to last long enough to make a commercial power plant economically viable in the presence of the intense neutron bombardment. The damage is primarily caused by high energy neutrons knocking atoms out of their normal position in the crystal lattice. A related problem for a future commercial fusion power plant is that the neutron bombardment will induce radioactivity in the reactor itself. Maintaining and decommissioning a commercial reactor may thus be difficult and expensive. Another problem is that superconducting magnets are damaged by neutron fluxes. The International Fusion Material Irradiation Facility is an international scientific research program designed to test materials for suitability for use in a fusion reactor. ...

Rebecca Harms, Green/EFA member of the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, said: "In the next 50 years nuclear fusion will neither tackle climate change nor guarantee the security of our energy supply." Arguing that the EU's energy research should be focused elsewhere, she said: "The Green/EFA group demands that these funds be spent instead on energy research that is relevant to the future. A major focus should now be put on renewable sources of energy." French Green party lawmaker Noël Mamère claims that more concrete efforts to fight present-day global warming will be neglected as a result of ITER: "This is not good news for the fight against the greenhouse effect because we're going to put ten billion euros towards a project that has a term of 30-50 years when we're not even sure it will be effective."[17] Rebecca Harms (born 7 December 1956 in Hambrock, Uelzen) is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament for Alliance 90/The Greens, part of the European Greens. ... The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary body of the European Union. ... NoÃ«l MamÃ¨re (born December 25, 1948) is a French politician of the French Green Party (Les Verts). ...

A number of fusion researchers working on non-tokamak systems, such as Robert Bussard and Eric Lerner, have been critical of ITER for diverting funding that they believe could be used for more reasonable and/or cost effective fusion power plant designs. Criticisms levied often revolve around an unwillingness by ITER supporters to face up to potential problems (both technical and economic) due to the number of scientists' jobs that are on the line with tokamak research. Robert W. Bussard was a 20th century American physicist working primarily in nuclear fusion energy research. ... Eric J. Lerner is the President of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc. ...

### Response to criticism

Proponents believe that much of the ITER criticism is misleading and inaccurate, in particular the allegations of the experiment's "inherent danger". The stated goals for a commercial fusion power station design are that the amount of radioactive waste produced be hundreds of times less than that of a fission reactor, that it produce no long-lived radioactive waste, and that it be impossible for any fusion reactor to undergo a large-scale runaway chain reaction. This is because direct contact with the walls of the reactor would contaminate the plasma, cooling it down immediately and stopping the fusion process. Besides which, the amount of fuel planned to be contained in a fusion reactor chamber (one half gram of deuterium/tritium fuel[18]) is only enough to sustain the reaction for an hour at maximum,[19] whereas a fission reactor usually contains several years' worth of fuel.[20] Proponents note that large-scale fusion power — if it works — will be able to produce reliable electricity on demand and with virtually zero pollution (no gaseous CO2 / SO2 / NOx by-products are produced). An illustration showing the various sources of nuclear waste Radioactive waste are waste types containing radioactive chemical elements that do not have a practical purpose. ... Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station consisted of two pressurized water reactors manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox each inside its own containment building and connected cooling towers. ... BIC pen cap, about 1 gram. ... It has been suggested that Pollutant be merged into this article or section. ...

According to researchers at a demonstration reactor in Japan, a fusion generator should be feasible in the 2030s and no later than the 2050s. Japan is pursuing its own research program with several operational facilities exploring different aspects of practicability.[21]

The cost of any scientific or engineering project must be weighed carefully against its possible benefit. In the United States alone, electricity accounts for US\$210 billion in annual sales.[22] Asia's electricity sector attracted US\$93 billion in private investment between 1990 and 1999.[23] These figures take into account only current prices. With petroleum prices widely expected to rise, political pressure on carbon production, and steadily increasing demand, these figures will undoubtedly also rise. Proponents contend that an investment in research now should be viewed as an attempt to earn a far greater future return for the economy. Also, worldwide investment of less than US\$1 billion per year into ITER is not incompatible with concurrent research into other methods of power generation.

Contrary to criticism, proponents of ITER assert that there are significant employment benefits associated with the project. ITER will provide employment for hundreds of physicists, engineers, material scientists, construction workers and technicians in the short term, and if successful, will lead to a global industry of fusion-based power generation[citation needed].

Supporters of ITER emphasize that the only way to convincingly prove ideas for withstanding the intense neutron flux is to experimentally subject materials to that flux — one of the primary missions of ITER and the IFMIF,[24] and both facilities will be of vital importance to the effort due to the differences in neutron power spectra between a real D-T burning plasma and the spectrum to be produced by IFMIF.[25] The purpose of ITER is to explore the scientific and engineering questions surrounding fusion power plants, such that it may be possible to build one intelligently in the future. It is nearly impossible to get satisfactory theoretical results regarding the properties of materials under an intense energetic neutron flux, and burning plasmas are expected to have quite different properties from externally heated plasmas.[citation needed] The point has been reached, according to supporters, where answering these questions about fusion reactors by experiment (via ITER) is an economical research investment, given the monumental potential benefit.

Finally, supporters point out that other potential replacements to the current use of fossil fuel sources have environmental issues of their own. Solar, wind, and hydroelectric power all have a relatively low power output per square kilometer compared to ITER's successor DEMO which, at 5000 MW, should have an energy density that exceeds even large fission power plants[26] If fusion ever becomes commercially viable, greenhouse gas emissions from electric power generation could be almost completely eliminated, with minimal environmental impact and without long-term nuclear waste issues. Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... Worldwide installed capacity and prediction 1997-2010, Source: WWEA Wind power is conversion of wind energy into more useful forms, usually electricity using wind turbines. ... Hydraulic turbine and electrical generator. ... Look up demo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Top: Increasing atmospheric CO2 levels as measured in the atmosphere and ice cores. ...

 energy Portal

Image File history File links Portal. ... Look up demo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Internal view of the JET tokamak superimposed with an image of a plasma taken with a visible spectrum video camera. ...

## References

1. ^ http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10633-green-light-for-nuclear-fusion-project.html
2. ^ Advantages of fusion energy. iter.org.
3. ^ The Advantages of Fusion. newenergytimes.com.
4. ^ Energy Demand. iter.org.
5. ^ Former justice minister admits inappropriate fund reports. asahi.com.
6. ^ States sign nuclear energy pact. BBC news.
7. ^ Beyond ITER. iter.org.
8. ^ http://www.iter.org/pics/constructionschedule.pdf
9. ^ http://www.iter.org Members of ITER
10. ^ Portugal quer Brasil em megaprojeto de fusão nuclear
12. ^ http://www.flonnet.com/fl2301/stories/20060127003709900.htm A nuclear leap, Frontline, Vol 23, Iss 1, (Jan. 14 - 27, 2006)
14. ^ http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/ITERprojectFrance
15. ^ http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1631650,00.html
16. ^ http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel5/6866/18462/00849850.pdf
17. ^ http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-141693-16&type=News
18. ^ http://www.iter.org/safety_process.htm
19. ^ http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/fs/2003/26004.htm
20. ^ http://www.stpnoc.com/FYI.htm 1/3 of fuel rods changed every 18 months
21. ^ http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0029-5515/45/2/004 Nucl. Fusion 45 (2005) 96–109 "Demonstration tokamak fusion power plant for early realization of net electric power generation"
22. ^ http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/chg_str_fuel/html/frontintr.html
23. ^ http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3650/is_200207/ai_n9093799
24. ^ http://www.iter.org/operation.htm
25. ^ http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/proceedings/2004csewgusndp/tuesday/mbphysics/09_DSmith.pdf
26. ^ http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/at_a_glance/states/statesaz.html

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 ITER - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (3035 words) ITER is an international tokamak (magnetic confinement fusion) experiment, planned to be built in France and designed to show the scientific and technological feasibility of a full-scale fusion power reactor. ITER is designed to produce approximately 500 MW (500,000,000 watts) of fusion power sustained for up to 500 seconds (compared to JET's peak of 16 MW for less than a second). Construction of the ITER complex is planned to begin in 2008[5], while assembly of the tokamak itself is scheduled to begin in the year 2011.
 Issues in S and T, Summer 1997, The ITER Decision and U.S. Fusion R&D (4054 words) ITER is the product of a years-long collaboration among several countries that is both a major advance in fusion science and a major step toward a safe and inexhaustible energy supply for humanity: practical power from fusion. ITER would be the first experiment in the world capable of definitively exploring the physics of burning plasmas-plasmas in which most of the power that maintains the plasma at thermonuclear temperatures is provided by the deuterium-tritium fusion events themselves. ITER construction funding should be budgeted as a line item separate from the budget of the U.S. national fusion program in order to ensure the continued strength of the latter.
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