World's most complex fusion power plant 50 pc built

New Delhi: The world's most complex machine, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) -- a project in which India is a scientific partner to prove that fusion power can be produced on a commercial scale -- is now 50 per cent built, it was announced on Wednesday.

Carbon-free and environmentally sustainable fusion is the same energy source from the sun that gives the earth its light and warmth.

ITER, the most complex science project in human history, will use hydrogen fusion, controlled by superconducting magnets, to produce massive heat energy.

In the commercial machines that will follow, this heat will drive turbines to produce electricity.

Scientists say a pineapple-sized amount of hydrogen offers as much fusion energy as 10,000 tonnes of fossil fuel coal.

The ITER facility is being built in southern France by a scientific partnership of 35 countries.

ITER's specialised components, roughly 10 million parts in total, are being manufactured in industrial facilities all over the world.

They are subsequently shipped to the ITER worksite, where they must be assembled, piece-by-piece, into the final machine.

Each of the seven ITER members -- the European Union, China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US -- is fabricating a significant portion of the machine. This adds to ITER's complexity.

In a message on December 1 to top-level officials in ITER member-governments, the project reported it had completed 50 per cent of the "total construction work scope through First Plasma".

First Plasma, scheduled for December 2025, will be the first stage of operation for ITER as a functional machine.

"The stakes are very high for ITER," writes ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot.

"When we prove that fusion is a viable energy source, it will eventually replace burning fossil fuels, which are non-renewable and non-sustainable. Fusion will be complementary with wind, solar, and other renewable energies."

"Our design has taken advantage of the best expertise of every member's scientific and industrial base. No country could do this alone. We are all learning from each other, for the world's mutual benefit."

The ITER 50 per cent milestone is getting significant attention.

The concept of the project was conceived at the 1985 Geneva Summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.

When the ITER Agreement was signed in 2006, it was supported by leaders like French President Jacques Chirac, US President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

More than 80 per cent of the cost of the ITER, about $22 billion, is contributed in the form of components manufactured by the partners.

Many of these massive components of the ITER machine must be precisely fitted, for example, 17-meter-high magnets with less than a millimetre of tolerance.

Each component must be ready on time to fit into the master schedule for machine assembly.

The European Union is paying 45 per cent of the cost; China, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the US each contribute 9 per cent equally.

All members share in ITER's technology; they receive equal access to the intellectual property and innovation that comes from building the ITER.

When will commercial fusion plants be ready?

ITER scientists predict that fusion plants will start to come on line as soon as 2040.