Slashdot Mirror
ITER Fusion Reactor On Track To Generating Power By 2028
ananyo writes "ITER, the multibillion-euro international nuclear-fusion experiment, is on track to generate power by 2028. But some of the science that was supposed to happen along the way is going to be dropped to keep the vision alive. The plans form the main thrust of recommendations by a 21-strong expert panel of international plasma scientists and ITER staff, convened to reassess the project's research plan in the light of the construction delays. The plans were discussed this week at a meeting of ITER's Science and Technology Advisory Committee. The meeting is the start of a year-long review by ITER to try to keep the experiment on track to generate 500 MW of power from an input of 50 MW by 2028, and so hit its target of attaining the so-called Q10, where power output is ten times input or more. ITER initially aims to produce a Q10 for a few seconds, and then for pulses of 300–500 seconds, and work up over the following decade to output ratios of 30 times more power out than in, with pulses lasting almost an hour. Eventually the aim is to develop steady-state plasmas, which will yield information relevant to industrial-scale fusion-power generation. It is experiments relating to the understanding of longer-pulse and steady-state ITER plasmas that are most likely to be delayed beyond 2028."
The headline has been fixed. Stop modding up this shite, it's getting in the way of an actual interesting discussion.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
I don't see that. I see fusion research squandering a lot of money for little gain. To be even more frank than the fantasy presented above, my take is that if fusion research had been funded to the desired level, it would be an epic fail for a very simple reason. They wouldn't be building a design that could be commercially viable. That's the only justification for spending that much money.