For decades, scientists around the world have been working to achieve nuclear fusion: nothing more and nothing less than the same process by which energy is produced in the Sun and in stars. Nuclear fusion promises to be a safer and cleaner source of energy than nuclear fission and probably unlimited , but fine-tuning such technology, especially for large-scale production, is not so straightforward and involves many challenges to be solved.
The ITER ( International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ) nuclear fusion project is an ambitious collaboration between 35 countries that are building in France the tokamak – the world's largest magnetic confinement nuclear fusion reactor – which in theory will pave the way for the development of nuclear fusion plants commercially.
Currently, ITER is in phase I of assembly and the first fusion plasma is expected to be produced in 2025 and the first operations with deuterium and tritium by 2035.
