An agreement was signed today at the Elysee Palace in Paris by representatives of more than 30 countries, including those of the U.S., the E.U., China, Russia, India, Japan and South Korea, to build an experimental nuclear fusion reactor at Cadarache, close to Marseille.
Scientists will try to duplicate the work of the Sun on Earth. If successful, within 30 years or so, the process could provide clean and limitless energy, making the burning of oil and gas almost superfluous. Nuclear fusion releases energy 10 million times greater than the burning of fossil fuel. Now that’s something that will reshape the Middle East. On the other hand, by then all the oil in the world might already have been used up.
The promises of nuclear fusion are great but so are the challenges. Ways will have to be found to heat gas to temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius.
The Greens are skeptical that it will work and would like to spend the money on proven technologies. But it’s better to think long term and try out new technologies and then evaluate whether they are feasible. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) will initially cost €10 billion. That’s indeed a lot of money, but it’s better to spend it on new technologies than to throw it down the drain in the criminal and futile occupation and so-called ‘reconstruction’ of Iraq.
An important step has been taken today and China is taking part in the experiment. Let’s hope it will work out. It will at least stop the fight over oil reserves…
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