A $20 billion international energy project backed by the U.S. and Europe to harness the power of the stars appears to be immune to last week’s Brexit vote, even as it continues to be targeted by Republicans for the scrap heap.
“The results of the ‘Brexit’ referendum in the United Kingdom are raising many questions throughout Europe and the world, and of course, within ITER,” says an official statement from the multi-national fusion project. ITER is the name of the 35-year-old project, which means “The Way” in Latin.
Despite the questions and concerns, the fusion project is expected to survive the political instability, it says. Nevertheless, it may be a good thing that the massive fusion reactor the U.S. and other countries are funding is being built in France, and not the United Kingdom.
ITER is clear that it is on firm ground to continue its work irregardless of the United Kingdom’s decision to split from the European Union.
“So what does Brexit mean for ITER? For now, and probably for the coming years … business as usual,” the statement says.
“The referendum results will not create any near-term changes in the organization’s plans or projections (e.g., related to schedule and resources), nor does ITER anticipate any changes in how procurement contracts or the employment contracts of United Kingdom staff are treated,” it explains.
The U.K. provides a big chunk of the research and development know-how going into the project. Some scientists in the U.K. say they “are rudderless” in the aftermath of last week’s vote, NPR reported Wednesday.
But ITER remains reticent about any such concerns. It says multi-national collaboratives focused on energy research are typically more immune to political upheavals than other agreements.
“From a broader point of view, science and technology collaborations tend to be less politically vulnerable to political change than some other types of collaboration,” it says. “ITER has already shown itself to be a stable collaboration, unaffected by political tensions that may arise from time to time between its Members.”
ITER member countries include the United States, China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, and Russia.
Europe is responsible for the lion’s share of construction costs, nearly 50 percent, for building the fusion reactor, which will be the largest of its kind in history, called a “tokamak.” The U.S. and other member countries provide funding for the remaining costs at 9.1 percent each.
The Obama administration is backing the project’s construction, after making cuts to ITER earlier in the president’s second term. Its fiscal 2017 budget request looks to restore full funding. But the GOP is looking to kill off funding completely for the plant’s construction.
The House energy spending bill “eliminates funding for ITER, which is under construction in France, saving $125 million,” according to a release. “ITER continues to crowd out other federal science investments where the United States has maintained leadership, including high performance computing and materials science.”
The project seeks to develop a sustainable, low-carbon energy source that harnesses the same nuclear reaction that the sun and stars use to produce energy from hydrogen, known as fusion.
The promise of fusion has been examined for decades. It offers the hope of a limitless source of energy that is more manageable, safe and efficient than conventional nuclear plants or any other power generator.
The ITER tokamak reactor is currently being constructed in southern France. Member country’s were in Europe about two weeks before the Brexit vote to get a progress report and construction briefing.
