Experimental Reactor (ITER), is being funded by the European Union, the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, India and the Russian Federation. Construction is due to be complete by 2020, with the first test reaction planned for later that year. The process of nuclear fusion, so far only mastered for very brief moments in laboratory conditions, involves fusing atoms together at temperatures as high as 150 million degrees centigrade (ten times the heat of the heat of the sun) until they turn into what is known as the 4th stage of matter, or plasma. This super hot plasma gives off huge amounts of energy. At the ITER Project the
plan is to fuse the hydrogen isotope deuterium (obtainable from water) and the lithium derived radioactive isotope tritium, the end result of which should be a helium nucleus, a neutron and oodles and oodles of energy. Or at least that’s how the theory goes. It is hoped that fusion reactors will be able to produce 7 billion kilowatthours of energy per year, a little less than the output of nuclear fission reactors. Achieving the required temperatures for fusion to take place will require large amounts of energy in itself, but scientists at ITER are confident that the energy output will be tenfold the