Countries sign up for fusion energy
Tuesday, 21 Nov 2006 11:42
The ITER device
Science In Focus
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Six countries and the European Union signed an agreement this morning to build an experimental nuclear fusion reactor to develop a potential new clean and safe energy source.
French president Jacques Chirac hosted the ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris, which was attended by ministers from the EU, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) will be built in Cadarache in the Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur region of France.
According to the ITER project, fusion energy is safe and the potential risk to the environment limited. It produces no greenhouse gas emissions and is suitable for the large-scale electricity production required for the energy needs of large cities.
One fusion power station could generate enough electricity for two million households.
Dr Steven Cowley, a plasma physicist, told the Today programme that today's agreement could lead to cheap, clean energy for the world.
Although he said that research should be "going full tilt" into renewable energy, "fusion has such potential for thousands and thousands of years of fuel supply; we have to go after it".
"There are accidents that can happen in anything but the traditional worries about fission do not happen in fusion," he said.
Although Friends of the Earth (FoE) agreed that the project has great potential in theory, it believes that it would be more practical to invest money in existing renewable energy sources.
Speaking on the same programme, Roger Higman, policy coordinator for FoE, said: "The question we would ask is isn't the money that is being spent on fusion, given the fact we have to act in the next ten to 15 years to reduce the emission causing climate change, isn't that money better spent on proven technologies, rather than chasing a dream that even its proponents say is going to take 100 years before it is providing many of our energy answers?"
The construction costs of ITER are estimated at €5 billion over ten years and another €5 billion for the 20-year operation period. The first meeting of the interim ITER council will take place following the agreement this morning.