While building an experimental nuclear fusion reactor is underway in south of France, the project expenditure has surged nearly fourfold compared to the original estimate, Reuters reports.
The project of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) was launched a decade ago jointly by Europe, United States, China, India, Japan, Russia and South Korea. The project cost was estimated at 5 billion euro, however, by 2011, the budget forecast had increased to about 16 billion euros. The facility’s full fusion was scheduled for 2023.
ITER differs from existing fission reactors, producing energy by splitting atoms, and will generate power by combining atoms in a process similar to the nuclear fusion that produces the energy of the sun.
