Completion of technical negotiations clear the way for ITER
Technical and legal experts completed the draft of the international agreement that will govern the operation of the 'international thermonuclear experimental reactor' (ITER) on 11 February, bringing the ten billion euro project closer to realisation. The next step is for the draft agreement and its annexes and associated documents to be approved by the chief negotiator from each party - the EU, the US, Japan, Korea, Russia and China and India. The agreement will then be submitted for ministerial approval and the ratification process. Work could well begin in the summer. This final meeting saw consensus on the only remaining obstacles to an agreement, which were principally organisational and managerial issues. The objective of ITER is to demonstrate the scientific feasibility of fusion, duplicating the reactions that power the Sun, splitting atoms by heating hydrogen gas to 100 million degrees centigrade. The reactor will produce 500 MW of fusion power during pulses of at least 400 seconds. Nuclear fusion is favoured by many as the solution to the Earth's limited supply of traditional energy sources. If successful, ITER will lead to the production of limitless amounts of cheap, clean energy, without the problem of radioactive waste that makes today's nuclear fission reactors so controversial. The reactor is to be built in Cadarache in the south of France.