Eight years late for the Iter nuclear fusion project

2024-07-03 17:14:23

By Marc Cherki

Closed yesterday at 7:14 pm.
Updated yesterday at 7:14 pm

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This reactor, decided by an international agreement in 2006, should start in 2033, with new additional costs estimated at less than 5 billion euros.

Destruction is full of promise. This involves creating a new way of producing energy on Earth by copying what happens in the stars, especially in the heart of our Sun. Gas heated to millions of degrees (called “plasma”) causes the fusion of very light atoms (like hydrogen) to give heavier elements, which creates a lot of energy.

But the Iter (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project, which should be possible to produce the most intense and long-lasting nuclear fusion, under construction in Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance (Bouches-du-Rhône) , is falling further. behind schedule. The production of the first plasma has now been pushed back, at best, to 2033, eight years after the previous 2016 schedule and seventeen years after the dates announced in 2006! Small comfort: the full capacity of the machine is expected in 2039, with a delay of only four years.

Read againIter, the nuclear fusion project, is moving forward step by step

As a result, the money will increase by « various…

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