Fusion Project With Russia Will Continue Despite 'rough Sea' - ITER Chief

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, which includes the EU and Russia, is set to continue despite challenges and technical challenges, the director-general of the project has stated.

Pietro Barabaschi, director-general of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)

The project, which aims to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free energy source, is located in southern France.

Pietro Barabaschi, during a visit to Russia said although he is unable to comment on what can happen in other organisations around the world, “but what concerns ITER, if you come, please come and visit, you will see that there is no such impact in the way we execute the project, and I think I’m very proud of that. It is a source of pride that we can show that engineers and scientists can still work together.”

The project, which was initiated after a 1985 summit between US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, has a history of technical challenges and cost overruns.

The seven partners of ITER are China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States.

Russia still participates despite Western sanctions over its campaign in Ukraine. The project’s execution has not been affected by tensions between Russia and the West, but it is a source of pride that engineers and scientists can still work together.

“So we are a little bit like running a marathon or maybe trying to cross the sea in rough sea… It’s a bit like an adventure. And I think pausing is not a good idea. What is possible is to try to modulate a little bit the speed, depending on the need and the will of the people that give us the funding,” Barabaschi said.

Fusion involves forcing together the nuclei of light atomic elements in a super-heated plasma held by powerful magnetic forces in a doughnut-shaped chamber called a tokamak.