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Your 17 years are off, experiment begin is in 2027: https://www.iter.org/construction/timeline https://www.iter.org/construction/timeline And even then, the ti
by jmiserez 9y ago
Your 17 years are off, experiment begin is in 2027: https://www.iter.org/construction/timeline https://www.iter.org/construction/timeline
And even then, the time until “operational” is not spent idling, the project has sparked and funded lots of research in various domains. It’s like the space race, at some point you just have to start building something for there to be any actual progress.
- mannykannot 9y agoIndeed, but I wonder if ITER has had a chilling effect on other such projects that could take advantage of newer technology to leapfrog it. In fact, some of the recent projects are looking more like the space race, which is an encouraging sign, and perhaps especially if it lights a fire under ITER - let's have a fusion race! The article cited 2035 as the date when ITER is expected to begin producing fusion energy. While preliminary R&D is necessary, it is all for (nearly) nothing unless and until it results in fusion at a scale that advances the state of the art.