EU research funds to be diverted to fusion reactor

he proposal has alarmed scientists, who say that it will rob researchers of vital funds at a time when governments are planning to scale back domestic research budgets in response to the global economic downturn. “I think it’s a small catastrophe in the present situation,” says Helga Nowotny, president of the European Research Council, which funds research across Europe. “It’s bad for European research.”

Based in the south of France, the ITER reactor will one day fuse hydrogen isotopes to produce energy. When the project was agreed in 2006, it was expected to cost €5 billion to construct, but unofficial estimates now put ITER’s price at about €15 billion (see Nature 465, 532–533; 2010 ). As the largest contributor to the project, the European Union (EU) will have to pay €7.2 billion, far more than the €2.7 billion it had initially expected. The most pressing problem is a €1.4-billion gap in the construction budget for 2012–13.

Nature