In Cadarache, near Aix en Provence in Southern France, one of the biggest scientific collaborations on the planet is underway.
Thirty four nations representing more than half the world’s population have joined forces in this an ambitious attempt to produce energy using the same process as the sun.
Known as Iter, meaning “the way” in Latin, the international nuclear fusion project is aimed at creating a new kind of reactor capable of producing unlimited supplies of cheap, clean, safe and sustainable electricity from atomic fusion.
It will weigh three times the equivalent of the Eiffel Tower and cover a space the size of 60 football fields.
The idea is to reproduce the fusion process that occurs at the core of our Sun, when hydrogen nuclei collide, fusing into heavier helium atoms and releasing tremendous amounts of energy. In Iter, the fusion reaction will be achieved in a tokamak device that uses magnetic fields to contain and control the plasma, which will be heated to extrem
