The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project (ITER) was signed by the US, the EU, China, India, Russia, Japan, and South Korea in an attempt to harnessing fusion, the same kind of nuclear reaction inside the sun, making clean energy a reality. The EU will be paying 50 percent of the cost to build the experimental reactor. Japan will supply the reactor’s most complex parts.

The project faced multiple delays because of internal disagreements over the site, financing, and design. At one point, the United States withdrew. After scientists warned that the US would then have to buy the technology from other nations it announced it was rejoining the project. The ITER will be built in the southern French region of Cadarache. It is expected to create about 10,000 jobs and take eight years to build. Officials hope to set up a demonstration power plant in Cadarache by 2040 to see if the energy could be commercially available.

The reactor would be colliding isotopes of hydrogen to release energy. Since hydrogen can be extracted from water, its fuel source is virtually endless. Just one quart of sea water would be able to generate energy equivalent to a quart of oil or two pounds of coal. French anti-nuclear group Sortir du Nucleaire warned that the project will still produce radioactive waste, though less than conventional nuclear reactors.

The project, which will take decades to take off, was praised by French President Jacques Chirac. “The growing shortage of resources and the battle against global warming demand a revolution in our ways of production and consumption,” Chirac said. “We have the duty to start research that will prepare energy solutions for our descendants.” By the end of the century, 10 to 20 percent of the world�s energy could come from fusion.

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