What is ITER and fusion energy?
ITER is an experimental reactor which will reproduce the physical reaction – fusion – that occurs in the sun and stars. Existing experiments have already shown that it is possible to replicate this process on Earth. ITER aims to do this at a scale and in conditions that will demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion as an energy source. When the nuclei of light atoms come together at very high temperatures, they fuse, and this produces enormous amounts of energy. In the core of the sun or a star, the huge gravitational pressure allows this to happen at temperatures of around 10 million degrees Celsius. At the much lower pressures that we can produce on Earth, temperatures to produce fusion need to be much higher above 100 million degrees Celsius. To reach these temperatures there must first be powerful heating, and thermal losses must be minimized by keeping the hot fuel particles away from the walls of the container. This is achieved by creating a magnetic cag
