Scientists have been researching the nuclear fusion reactor for decades, and now the process of building its largest sample has begun and will be completed by 2025.
This nuclear reactor, called “ITER” or “International Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor”, has been in development since 1985 and is one of the most ambitious energy projects in human history. Thousands of scientists and engineers from 35 countries are participating in this project and want to generate energy inspired by the fast and extremely hot reactions inside the sun.
During these reactions, the hydrogen nucleus breaks down due to intense heat and gravity, and then they are placed next to each other to form helium atoms and release large amounts of energy. Nuclear reactors such as ITERs, known as tokamaks, want to create these reactions inside donut-shaped chambers, where massive magnetic coils direct and compress the super-hot plasma stream to fuse.
There are currently several test tokams around the world, but none of them can compete with ITER. Last year, the construction of the reactor site was completed after 9 works. Instead of generating electricity for consumers and the industry, ITER is designed to show that nuclear fusion machines can generate energy.
Today, the assembly phase of the nuclear fusion reactor began at the ITER site in France, and at the ceremony, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the leaders of the seven ITER member states, including the United States, China, Russia, Japan, Europe, India and South Korea participated in the video conference. The assembly phase is expected to take five years, and success requires connecting millions of parts made worldwide.
The nearly $ 24 billion project is being pursued with great caution and will involve nearly 2,000 people working in the busiest conditions. If all goes according to plan, ITER will have its first plasma in 2025.
