Is there consensus in the scientific community about the ITER Project?

In a project of this unprecedented scale, involving worldwide cooperation and billions of euros of expenditure, it would be naïve to believe that there could be unanimity in the scientific community on the aims and the scientific and technical basis of the project. A scientific consensus may be possible while discussions remain at the abstract level, but in a world of intense competition for research funding it is inevitable that scientists from various fields will criticize the decision to spend money on a large project, arguing that they would prefer to spend the money elsewhere.

What can be said about ITER is that for the scientific community working in the energy field, this project is considered by a strong majority as a major step that may provide a future energy alternative for all humankind. The present political and scientific approach to this project has not suddenly appeared out of lobbying by a few influential individuals. It is the result of decades of painstaking, step-by-step research by fusion scientists all over the world as well as intense discussions in the scientific administrations of involved governments who debated the options, the costs and the risks before deciding that ITER was a worthwhile investment in our common energy future. The proportion of papers directly concerned with ITER presented at leading international scientific conferences on fusion as well as in fusion journals has been steadily increasing for a number of years. The fact that research aimed at ITER is now such a dominant topic in these papers demonstrates how essential the project is to the advancement of fusion towards energy production.

Fusion research, and the role of ITER, has been subject to serious scrutiny by panels of independent experts established by funding agencies in Europe and most of the other ITER partners. The results of these investigations provide the most reliable measure of consensus in the scientific community. A few examples:

• In 2004 during the early stages of ITER negotiations, a high-level panel chaired by Sir David King (Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government) concluded that the time was right to press ahead with ITER and recommended funding a "fast track" approach to fusion energy. In 2013 the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA, now EUROfusion ) published a roadmap to the realization of fusion energy by 2050.

• The French Academy of Sciences organized a detailed review of the state-of-the-art and the remaining challenges of fusion both by magnetic confinement (including ITER) and using laser-driven systems. The review was published in a book in 2007 which emphasized the arguments supporting the construction of ITER.

• The United States went through a long process to decide to re-enter the ITER collaboration, after leaving it in the late 1990s. The US National Academy of Sciences convened a panel which included both fusion scientists and senior scientists from related fields such as nuclear fission power, high-energy physics and astrophysics. The non-fusion scientists were empowered to make the key recommendations. The panel strongly endorsed the renewed membership of the US in the ITER Project as the best path forward to fusion energy.

• China announced in 2011 that it is planning to train 2,000 skilled experts over 10 years to carry out research and development in fusion.

• In 2016, the US Department of Energy made a report to the US Congress in which it recommends that the US remain a partner in ITER, through a re-assessment in 2018. Noting that "the management of the ITER Organization and the performance of the project have improved substantially," the report concludes that despite accumulated delays, "ITER remains the fastest path for the study of burning plasma."

• In June 2017 the European Commission produced the 14-page document " EU Contribution to a Reformed ITER Project " expressing confidence that the project was back on track.

• In December 2017, the US National Academy of Sciences issued the first part of a two-phase study on the state and potential of magnetic fusion research in the US. In it, US policy makers were urged to continue to participate in the ITER Project and to develop a long-term strategy for fusion energy demonstration. (The report is available here .)

• In April 2018 the European Council of Ministers issued a statement mandating Commission to approve the new ITER Baseline (cost, schedule, scope). One month later, the European Commission issued its 2021-2017 budget proposal with unequivocal support for the ITER Project.

• In December 2018 the US National Academy of Sciences published its final report (available here ), recommending not only that the US remain a partner in ITER "as the most cost-effective way to gain experience with a burning plasma at the scale of a power plant," but also that it start a "national program of accompanying research and technology leading to the construction of a compact pilot plant."

• In March 2020, hundreds of scientists across the United States—representing a broad range of national labs, universities, and private ventures— released A Community Plan for Fusion Energy and Discovery Plasma Sciences. It offers a consensus view of the bold steps to take nationally to deliver fusion energy and advance plasma science in the United States, including maintaining participation in ITER. Download the report here

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