Nature editorial highlights ITER cost concerns
A Nature editorial today highlights concerns that the true budget for ITER is not known, since each contributing member state is under no obligation to reveal its industrial contracts. Greater transparency is demanded about what the costs are to the European taxpayer, who at present funds roughly 50 percent of the fusion project.
ITER to be scaled back – fusion experiment delayed by five years
Nature reports today that initial plans for ITER have had to be scaled back because of spiralling costs, which are expected to double to over 10 billion Euros: a scaled back version called ‘Scenario 1′ will be discussed in a meeting on the 17th of June. The new schedule is likely to mean that the experiments needed to validate fusion will occur in 2025, 5 years later than originally planned.
Blog post: Michael Meacher
Interesting blog post from Michael Meacher about recent nuclear policy. One particular comment:
Rising electrical demand and many old power stations coming to the end of their usable lives soon means there needs to be some major energy projects to boost the grid. Currently green technology isn’t capable of it.
That coupled with NIMBYs being against the River Severn Barrage — capable of producing as much energy as 8 coal fired power stations — and other similar schemes shows that people aren’t ready for large renewable projects, which take up more land area than non-renewable schemes.
I agree with Brown that, for now, nuclear is our best bet.
read comments (LabourHome)