Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Fusion falters under soaring costs

Jet tokamak (EFDA) Plasma in a tokamak - a fusion reactor device - can reach millions of degrees

By Matt McGrath, Science reporter, BBC World Service

An international plan to build a nuclear fusion reactor is being threatened by rising costs, delays and technical challenges.

Emails leaked to the BBC indicate that construction costs for the experimental fusion project called Iter have more than doubled.

Some scientists also believe that the technical hurdles to fusion have become more difficult to overcome and that the development of fusion as a commercial power source is still at least 100 years away.

At a meeting in Japan on Wednesday, members of the governing Iter council will review the plans and may agree to scale back the project. …

Fusion falters under soaring costs

Technorati Tags: ,

No comments: