International Program Aims To Develop Energy Supply Without Limit
Wood, coal, gas and oil have long-fueled societies since prehistoric times but they all emit carbon dioxide and all are finite. Today, rapid economic growth is straining the Earth’s ability to meet demand for these fuels, and rising greenhouse-gas concentrations are threatening the climate’s stability. Clean, renewable energy alternatives are being proposed to replace these fuels, but many have limitations: Wind may not blow when demand is up, the sun shines only part of the day and drought can cripple a hydropower plant. Because fossil fuels are still abundant and relatively cheap, they will continue to provide the bulk of our energy at midcentury, despite promises of other power sources.
Researchers, however, are devoting enormous effort and resources to studying and developing a technology that promises inexhaustible supplies of energy with negligible environmental impact. On a 180-hectare site in Cadarache, France, 60 kilometers north of Marseille, earth-moving equipment has leveled a 60-hectare platform for construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Scientists, supported by the funds and contributions-in-kind of seven sponsoring countries representing more than half the world’s population, will use it to demonstrate the feasibility of fueling a prototype electricity-generating plant with burning-plasma fusion. By 2025, ITER should do that with a gain of 10, meaning that an input of 50 MW will produce 500 MW of energy. The gain for the prototype powerplant, to be built in Japan by 2035 or 2040, will be 25.