EU tempts Japan on fusion deal

EU tempts Japan on fusion deal
ITER - NUCLEAR FUSION PROJECT

The project is estimated to cost $10bn and will run for 20 years
It will produce the first sustained fusion reactions
Iter is the final stage before a commercial reactor is built
The EU has offered Japan a package of incentives to persuade it to give up its bid to host the world's biggest nuclear fusion reactor.
Europe wants to base the reactor at Cadarache in France, while Tokyo favours Rokkasho-Mura, in north Japan.

Japan would receive contributions to other fusion research initiatives and other benefits, EU officials said.

But Europe said it would press ahead with building the reactor itself if agreement was not reached soon.

"A central feature of a consensus would be a genuine partnership between the EU and Japan," the EU's executive commission said in a statement.

"Japan could receive favourable conditions to reflect its special contribution to the Iter project.

"Furthermore, the EU could contribute to other fusion research initiatives carried out in Japan to complement the Iter project as part of a broader approach to mastering fusion energy." ...cont'd


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4016995.stm

...than you find with the usual Olympic city selection process.

The world could really use fusion power. I really hate to see this important project delayed because they can't agree on where to build their effing test-reactors.

how to keep the plasma from toasting the interior of the torus, and that this reactor was just a test of how to keep that from happening, and that the next one would be the first to sustain fustion?

I believe that it is intended to generate a net power of 500 kilowatts of electricity.

Not really commercial grade, but it will be a genuine fusion power plant.

I was just talking about this reactor in my Modern Physics course today. I could not remember what the status of the site selection was, and this article confirms that I was right that it is still undecided between Europe and Japan.