Nuclear fusion power project to start in slimmed-down version

MARSEILLE, France (AFP)

Discussions are underway about the best timetable,” Catherine Cesarsky of France’s Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) told journalists on the sidelines of a science conference here.

“There is a new commissioning strategy, a detailed discussion about the machine’s deployment.”

A decision approving the change will be put next week to the partners in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), she said.

Launched in 2006 after years of debate, the scheme aims at building a testbed at Cadarache, near Marseille, to see whether fusion, so far achieved in a handful of labs at great cost, can be a feasible power source.

AFP