Beyond ITER – next steps in fusion power

reports

Nuclear fusion took an important step forward last month with the beginning of the assembly phase of the experimental fusion reactor ITER at Cadarache, near Marseille. It was a humble start for a momentous event: the first completed component was transferred into the fusion machine’s ultimate location. Over the next five years, increasingly complex parts will make the journey inside the concrete walls that will enclose what is planned to be the first reactor to achieve self-sustaining fusion  – what’s known as a “burning plasma”. At this point, however, many of the components have not yet been completed.

Despite this, planning and even engineering studies have already begun on ITER’s successor. This will be called DEMO, and while ITER will sustain a burning plasma, DEMO is planned to be the first real nuclear fusion power station, expected to supply electricity to a grid.

The ITER project, involving a total of 35 nations (The European Union plus Switzerland, along with the US, China, India, Japan, Russia and South Korea) is projected to take 25 years to complete once its reactor is built, and DEMO cannot start until it is finished. ITER will generate no electricity, but will investigate how to best operate a fusion reactor large enough to sustain a burning plasma – size has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks to achieving this.