Current geopolitics might suggest that Western scientists have been in general alignment with the United States in the global race for fusion energy – but some of Europe’s top nuclear physicists are placing their bets on China. Scepticism over US fusion goals and chronic delays at the 33-nation International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in France have created an opening for a new leader in the field, and China appears poised to fill it. Targeted for completion in 2027, the…
ITER is clearly the wrong way to go. Even if they achieve long term containment no country could afford to build one, and it would take a generation.