ITER Nuclear Fusion Reactor Hit By COVID Delay, Rising Costs

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) currently under construction in Cadarache, southern France, will see cost overruns and delays due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, its top official said on Friday. Euractiv reports: When the ITER project was launched in 2015, the schedule was to have the first plasma by the end of 2025 and full nuclear fusion by 2035, said Bernard Bigot, the director general of ITER. 'We were on track until the end of 2019 but unfortunately, as you know, the world has been impacted by COVID-19,' Bigot told journalists during an online press conference on Friday (17 September). As a result of the pandemic, factories were stopped and ships that took on average 45 days to deliver components from Korea took 90 days to arrive, he indicated. 'While we were progressing on a monthly rate of nearly 0.7% on average during the last five years, last year in 2020 we were only able to achieve 0.35%,' he explained. 'So clearly, first plasma in 2025 is no longer technically achievable.'

The delay means the costs of ITER will also likely go over budget, because of 'running costs that cannot be eliminated,' Bigot explained, saying he was preparing a full review for the ITER Council in November 2022. That said, Bigot expressed confidence that with the COVID-19 crisis receding, 'we will be able to keep to the real target,' which is to attain full fusion power by 2035. The goal of the experimental plant is to demonstrate that fusion power can be generated sustainably, and safely, on a commercial scale. 'Fusion provides clean, reliable energy without carbon emissions,' said a statement from the 35 ITER partners.

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