The International nuclear fusion project known as Iter, meaning
“The Way” in Latin is designed to
If the project demonstrates that it is possible to build commercially
viable fusion reactors then it could become the experiment that saved the world
in a century threatened by climate change and an expected threefold increase in
global energy demand. As the project gained final approval for the design of
the most technically challenging component, the fusion reactor’s “blanket” that
will handel the superheated nuclear fuel.
The building site in Cadarache has also passed the crucial
stage where some 493 seismic bearings, giant concrete and rubber plinths have
been set into the reactor’s deep foundations to protect against possible
earthquakes. Peering over the edge of the huge seismic isolation pit, it is
still possible to see some of these bearings before they are covered with a
raft of reinforced concrete that will support the massive fusion machine at the
heart of the $20bn Iter project.
Over the next few years about a million individual
components of the highly complex fusion reactor will arrive at the Cadarache
site from around the world. They will be assembled like a giant Lego model in a
nearby building which has a volume equal to 81 Olympic sized swimming pools. “It
is the largest scientific collaboration in the world. In fact, the project is
so complex we even had to invent our own currency-known as the Iter Unit of
Account-to decide how each country pays its share,” said Carlos Alejalder, Iter’s
deputy director responsible for safety. “We’ve passed from the design stage to
being a construction project. We will have to show it is safe, If we cannot
convince the public that this is safe, i don’t think nuclear fusion will be
developed anywhere in the world,” said Dr Alejalder.
“A Fukushima like accident is impossible at Iter because the
fusion reaction is fundamentally safe. Any disturbance from ideal conditions
and the reaction will stop. A runaway nuclear reaction and core meltdown are
simply not possible.” He said. There is at least another decade of building
work and further decade of testing before the reactor will be allowed to “go
nuclear”. Every single stage is inspected. Even the specially prepared concrete
cannot be mixed unless a nuclear safety inspector is present. If anything goes
wrong with Iter, fusion will be dead,” said a spokesperson for the project.
The roost of the Iter project go back to 1985 when Mikhail
Gobachev, General Secretary of the
former Soviet Union, offered his country’s prowers in nuclear fusion as a bargaining
chip in the nuclear disarmament talks with US, which at time was pursuing its “Stars
Wars” defence system.