News & Views item - November 2006

 

 

Nuclear Fusion and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Project. (November 22, 2006)

    The US$12 billion worldwide attempt to generate power from nuclear fusion was signed into existence today by ministers from the project's seven international partners--China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States.

     

With the current discussions regarding the possible development of electricity generation through nuclear fission in Australia, it's of interest to look beyond at the possible use of nuclear fusion for power generation sometime closer to the 22nd century than the beginning of the 21st.

 

Nature's Washington Physical Sciences Correspondent, Geoff Brumfiel poses two rhetorical questions.

 

When will we know whether ITER has been a success?

Not until at least 2016, when the first plasma will be created inside the machine. In truth, it could take several more years before scientists and engineers on the project can coax a power-producing plasma from ITER. The project is expected to run for a decade, and researchers will use that time to gather data to develop a second, possible demonstration reactor that would produce electricity.

What would happen if we put that much money into renewable energy instead?

An investment of that size could make a huge difference to the capacity of electricity plants based on things such as wind, solar and geothermal energy — and it would have that impact in the very near future. It is impossible to know how successful or cheap fusion power, in comparison, might one day be. But a range of future energy options is inarguably a good thing. For now, some of the scientists involved with ITER are as interested in the basic science as they are in eventual applications.

Would  Prime Minister John Howard like to set up a "taskgroup" with the goal of determining whether or not Australia should/would/could be a leader in setting up an international consortium to invest -- say up to US$12 billion -- for developing the capacity "of electricity plants based on things such as wind, solar and geothermal energy"?

Ha, you make big joke for pull Borat's fibula.