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Released July 16, 2024 | GALWAY, IRELAND
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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--The world's largest nuclear fusion reactor project is expected to cost another $5.4 billion and has had its potential commissioning date pushed out by a further five years to 2039.
The International Fusion Energy Project (ITER) fusion reactor, located in Cadarache, southeastern France, is a 35-nation project to create fusion power, which will aim to replicate reactions that power the sun to make cheap and emission-free power. However, the project has been beset by many problems, ranging from COVID-19, component shortages and manufacturing delays. The original budget of $5 billion and a start-up date of 2020 have spiraled upwards to a budget of $27 billion and a startup time in 2039.
Speaking to the media about the revised timetable and increased costs, Pietro Barabaschi, ITER's director general, admitted that the original goals were "too optimistic." He added: "Some things could have been foreseen a little bit better, in terms of difficulties and risks that may have incurred in the manufacturing and assembly. Certainly, the delay of ITER is not going in the right direction. In terms of the impact of nuclear fusion on the problems humanity faces now, we should not wait for nuclear fusion to resolve them. This is not prudent."
Barabaschi ruled out the role of fusion power in dealing with today's climate change: "I trust there will be a point in time where it will play an important role," he said. "But I am not going to be a person that will tell you fusion will solve all problems and will not solve them at the time that they should be solved, because the time to [for that] be solved was yesterday. Humanity should focus on using the technologies that we have now in hand," he said, referring to nuclear power and renewables.
In the past week, the project reached a key milestone with the delivery of the last of 19 massive toroidal field coils that will operate as a single magnet: the most powerful magnet ever made. Ten coils were manufactured in Europe, under the auspices of ITER's European Domestic Agency, Fusion for Energy (F4E), and eight coils plus one spare were made in Japan, managed by ITER Japan, part of the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST). Each completed coil measures 17 meters tall and 9 meters across, and weighs about 360 metric tons. Together, located around the vacuum vessel where first plasma will be created, they will create a magnetic field around 250,000 times stronger than that of the Earth.
"A good day for the world" said Kadri Simson, the European Union Commissioner for Energy. "The toroidal field coils have long been considered amongst the most complex components to manufacture," she told representatives from many of the nations collaborating on ITER. In Europe, under the leadership of Fusion for Energy, more than 40 companies and 700 people were involved in coil fabrication. Some of the companies involved now apply the technologies and know-how they developed for ITER to other projects. This demonstrates the added value of working for ITER. I'm very pleased to see how this project inspires numerous private initiatives in fusion and creates benefits for all involved actors.''
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
The International Fusion Energy Project (ITER) fusion reactor, located in Cadarache, southeastern France, is a 35-nation project to create fusion power, which will aim to replicate reactions that power the sun to make cheap and emission-free power. However, the project has been beset by many problems, ranging from COVID-19, component shortages and manufacturing delays. The original budget of $5 billion and a start-up date of 2020 have spiraled upwards to a budget of $27 billion and a startup time in 2039.
Speaking to the media about the revised timetable and increased costs, Pietro Barabaschi, ITER's director general, admitted that the original goals were "too optimistic." He added: "Some things could have been foreseen a little bit better, in terms of difficulties and risks that may have incurred in the manufacturing and assembly. Certainly, the delay of ITER is not going in the right direction. In terms of the impact of nuclear fusion on the problems humanity faces now, we should not wait for nuclear fusion to resolve them. This is not prudent."
Barabaschi ruled out the role of fusion power in dealing with today's climate change: "I trust there will be a point in time where it will play an important role," he said. "But I am not going to be a person that will tell you fusion will solve all problems and will not solve them at the time that they should be solved, because the time to [for that] be solved was yesterday. Humanity should focus on using the technologies that we have now in hand," he said, referring to nuclear power and renewables.
In the past week, the project reached a key milestone with the delivery of the last of 19 massive toroidal field coils that will operate as a single magnet: the most powerful magnet ever made. Ten coils were manufactured in Europe, under the auspices of ITER's European Domestic Agency, Fusion for Energy (F4E), and eight coils plus one spare were made in Japan, managed by ITER Japan, part of the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST). Each completed coil measures 17 meters tall and 9 meters across, and weighs about 360 metric tons. Together, located around the vacuum vessel where first plasma will be created, they will create a magnetic field around 250,000 times stronger than that of the Earth.
"A good day for the world" said Kadri Simson, the European Union Commissioner for Energy. "The toroidal field coils have long been considered amongst the most complex components to manufacture," she told representatives from many of the nations collaborating on ITER. In Europe, under the leadership of Fusion for Energy, more than 40 companies and 700 people were involved in coil fabrication. Some of the companies involved now apply the technologies and know-how they developed for ITER to other projects. This demonstrates the added value of working for ITER. I'm very pleased to see how this project inspires numerous private initiatives in fusion and creates benefits for all involved actors.''
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).
