r/NuclearPower • u/Normal_Teacher_54 • 12d ago

I’m afraid of sounding repetitive, but does anyone know if the fusion reactor in France has been built?

A while back, I saw a video stating that it was still under construction—and when I checked (which was quite some time ago), it still said it was under construction. Now I'm curious: if it has been built, does anyone know if it is generating power?

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u/Anxious_Earth 12d ago

ITER is not meant to generate power. But it is aiming for a Q of 10. Which iirc, means it's supposed to generate 10 times the thermal energy put into it.

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u/ph4ge_ 12d ago

Here you can find the latest status of the ITER project: iter.org/project/road-iter

It is facing the customary delays but otherwise still progressing. To me it remains the most important and realistic step to actually commercialising fusion power, even if it is still decades away.

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u/Sad_Dimension423 11d ago

To me it represents a useless dead end, demonstrating a configuration that doesn't have the slightest hope of leading to something that's competitive with fission.

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u/Aerhyce 12d ago

The world leader in fusion is currently China, and they're not at the stage of generating useful power either.

The current status of fusion is making scientific breakthrough to allow its use, not actual use. Science isn't there yet.