The Power of Fusion Technology for the Energy Needs of the Future
ITER means “the way” in Latin, but 35 countries around the globe know ITER as one of the most ambitious energy projects in the world.
Robert Pearce, Section Leader, Vacuum Delivery & Installation Section for the ITER Organization, spoke about the drive to create net energy from a fusion device.
“Initially, ITER got started from a discussion between Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev at the end of the Cold War,” Pearce said. “Their vision was to start an international project that would produce fusion energy.”
Seven international partners from 35 countries and several more associated countries form ITER. Throughout all these nations, more than 1,000 companies participate in creating ITER’s fusion machine, Tokamak. Through hard work, scientific know-how and tremendous collaboration, ITER hopes to harness the same energy that powers the universe.
Fusion energy is a sustainable fuel with the potential of changing the game for humanity.
“It’s an admirable goal to have clean, sustainable energy, but it’s not that easy,” Pearce said. “If it were easy, it would have already been done.”
ITER’s mission is to figure out the challenges that come with harnessing the sun’s power without the size and scale in which the sun burns energy and the gravitational forces that go along with it.
