THE US has stopped work on its home-grown nuclear fusion reactor and is now is pinning all hopes for an inexhaustible source of energy on an international collaboration to build the world鈥檚 largest fusion facility, despite a stalemate among member nations.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project has been stalled since December 2003 because its six members cannot agree on where to build the facility. The EU, China and Russia favour the French city of Cadarache, while the US, South Korea, and Japan back the Japanese town of Rokkashomura.
Meanwhile, the US stopped work on it own nuclear project, the Fusion Ignition Research Experiment. FIRE鈥檚 copper magnets were 鈥渄ead-end鈥� technology, says Anne Davies, director of the US Department of Energy鈥檚 Office of Fusion Energy Sciences. ITER will use superconducting magnets.
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