ITER fusion reactor has countries cooperating for the wrong cause.
By the time ITER is actually operational — if it ever is — it will have gobbled up billions of dollars. Currently, those cost estimates range wildly between the official ITER figure of $19-23 billion (likely a gross under-estimate) and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) current estimate of $65 billion.
The starting price when the project began was around $6.3 billion.
$16-million-a-second and no electricity — Beyond Nuclear International
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Fusion might be useful for space travel, but on earth we don’t need it. We can get all the energy we need from solar. 🤷
That’s true, especially during the night. Do you understand the economics of solar energy?
Actually I’m not involved in the field of Thermonuclear fusion but I feel the world needs input of new thoughts about this subject. As I can understand, the process needs 3 steps to acheive: Ignition, Confinement and finally energy gain transfer. Given the high energy input needed to ignite then the resulting incredible temperature that no material on earth can withstand, I think it’s not relevant to build these costly reactors designs ( whether Tokamaks, Stellarators or even NIF designs ) on Land. Instead we need to confine directly within the universally ( and even cosmolopolitan ) compatible coolant ie Water, where no magnetic nor isolation construction Confinement is required. Also the ignition can be achieved by an underwater Hydrogen pomp ” Controlled explosion ” in a pooled water site large enough to safely accomodate the consequences. The resulting water vapor (steam) may be directed somehow to drive some giant turbines to generate Electricity.
Another alternative is to perform the same in an underground remote desert sites where Sand can confine the energy and transfer it to evaporate water tanks that again drive turbines.
Lastly, being not from the field, my comment may be some fiction, I may look like an intruder. But, if applicable, I can send practical designs & sites .