Six Nations Plus EU
Sign Pact to Build Experimental Fusion Reactor in France
November 22, 2006 — By Angela Charlton, Associated Press
PARIS — Physicists have dreamt about it
for decades: harnessing the fusion process that powers the sun to make
clean, safe and limitless energy. A multinational pact signed Tuesday may
bring that dream a step closer to reality.
Seven partners representing half the world's population have agreed to
build an experimental fusion reactor in southern France that could
revolutionize global energy use for future generations.
Yet it is also just an experiment -- a bold, long-awaited, $12.8 billion
experiment -- and it will be decades before scientists are even sure it
works.
The ITER project by the United States, the European Union, China, India,
Russia, Japan and South Korea will attempt to combat global warming by
offering an alternative to fossil fuels. Controlling climate change and
finding new energy sources are urgent goals for a growing global
population.
"Worldwide demand for energy is expected to double in the next 25 years
and we need to diversify our energy supply," said U.S. Secretary of Energy
Samuel W. Bodman, during a tour Tuesday of Princeton University's Plasma
Physics Lab.
Experiments on two reactors at the Princeton lab -- one in use since 1999
and the other under construction -- will be crucial in helping scientists
determine how to translate research at the ITER facility into a design for
commercial fusion reactors, Bodman said.
French President Jacques Chirac hailed Tuesday's agreement as a victory
for humanity -- and for France, which widely exports its nuclear energy
expertise and beat out Japan in the bidding to host the reactor. The
project's director will be Japanese, and Japan will supply the reactor's
most complex parts.
"The growing shortage of resources and the battle against global warming
demand a revolution in our ways of production and consumption," Chirac
said. "We have the duty to start research that will prepare energy
solutions for our descendants."
Physicists have been trying for half a century to create fusion, which
replicates the sun's power source, produces no greenhouse gases and
generates relatively little radioactive waste.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, or ITER,
recognizes that no single country can afford the immense investment needed
to move the science forward.
It is expected to take eight years to build the reactor in Cadarache in
the southern region of Provence. A demonstration power plant may be ready
by 2040, according to project organizers. If the prototype proves viable,
it could point the way to designs for commercial power plants.
Officials involved in the project say 10 percent to 20 percent of the
world's energy could come from fusion by the end of the century.
Some experts, though, question whether the project can keep all the
promises being made on its behalf.
"I would be extremely surprised -- pleasantly surprised -- if there was a
prototype" by 2040, said Matthew Bunn, nuclear expert at Harvard
University.
He said "it's an open question" whether the project is even pursuing the
right technology. Still, he said Tuesday's signing was seen as a major
boost to physicists worldwide -- even if the ITER never leads to
commercial energy.
"This is big science at its biggest and will keep many people in the
plasma physics community with lots of experiments to do for a long time to
come," he said. The project is expected to create about 10,000 jobs.
Ivan Oelrich, vice president for strategic security for the Federation of
American Scientists, said there is no guarantee the project will lead to
designs for commercial reactors. He questioned whether it represented the
best investment if the primary goal is to achieve energy independence.
"If you took this money and invested it on things like more efficient
insulation and windows and got people to drive smaller cars ... you would
come out way ahead on your future energy security than you would by
pursuing this right now," he said.
The European Union has agreed to provide about 45 percent of the 12.8
billion cost of building the reactor, which is expected to take about a
decade. The other nations will each contribute 9.1 percent.
Bodman said only 20 percent of the United States' $1.12 billion share will
be paid in cash. The rest reflects the value of the equipment and labor to
be provided by U.S. scientists and technicians.
Fusion, which powers the sun and other stars, involves confining hydrogen
at extreme temperature and pressure to create a highly energetic gas. At
180 million degrees, the gas undergoes nuclear fusion, releasing energy
that can be used to generate electricity.
Unlike fossil fuels, which are expected to run short by the end of the
century, the supply of the reactor's hydrogen fuel is essentially
limitless.
Its backers say one quart of sea water would be able to generate energy
equivalent to a quart of oil or two pounds of coal.
The ITER project has been on the drawing boards for years. It stalled amid
concerns about financing and reactor design and, at one point, the United
States withdrew, leaving scientists warning the U.S. would eventually have
to buy the technology from other nations.
The United States never offered to host the project largely because that
would require a much larger share of its cost.
The seven partners agreed last year to build the reactor at Cadarache,
which houses one of the biggest civil nuclear research centers in Europe.
The U.S. has given its final approval, though the other partners still
must ratify it.
French anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire warned the project will
produce radioactive waste and will consume energy in its race to conserve
it.
"If fusion one day manages to produce electricity, it will surely not be
in acceptable economic, ecological and industrial conditions," it said.
Environmental activists, who generally oppose nuclear power, have argued
the project is too costly and would turn the focus away from efforts to
fight global warming.
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Associated Press reporters Christine Ollivier in Paris, Linda A. Johnson
in Plainsboro, N.J., and Tracee Herbaugh in New York contributed to this
report.