China will be involved in the development of all the core
technologies needed to build the world's largest experimental
nuclear fusion reactor.
On Wednesday China signed a historic deal with the European
Union, the United States, Russia, India, Japan and the Republic of
Korea to build the US$14 billion International Thermonuclear
Experimental Reactor (ITER).
With China contributing 10 percent of the funding, the project
is believed to be one of the most expensive scientific experiments
ever.
Scientists hope ITER will unlock the secrets of nuclear fusion
which could solve the world's energy crisis and bring an end to
global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.
Last night Yang Changchun, an ITER engineer told China
Daily that Chinese scientists will be involved in 12 of the
project's key programs including manufacturing superconductors and
power supply sets.
"China will take part in the research and development of all
core technologies in this project," said Yang.
All participants are expected to ratify the agreement to build
ITER by the end of the year with construction starting in
Cadarache, France, in 2007, said the Xinhua News Agency.
Under the new accord, which was signed in Brussels on Wednesday
after three years of talks, the EU will pay 50 percent of ITER's
total cost with the rest divided amongst the other participants.
The entire project is expected to last 30 years with the first 10
spent simply constructing the facilities. The completed reactor
will have a potential power capacity of 500 megawatts.
Experts predict that by the end of the century 10 to 20 percent
of the world's energy could come from nuclear fusion.
Huo Yuping, the leading scientist in China's ITER Office, said
it was the project’s significance in solving the world’s energy
problem which had encouraged China to involve it's scientists with
the project.
He added that the nation could also take advantage of ITER
successes to develop related advanced technologies.
Although fusion experiments have taken place in only a few
countries around the world they could hold the key to unlocking
vast untapped supplies of energy. Theoretically a fusion power
plant could generate 1,000 megawatts of electricity from only 1
kilogram of deuterium and 10 kilograms of lithium.
A conventional nuclear fission power station would need 500
kilograms of highly radioactive uranium to generate the same amount
of power while a coal power station would need 10,000 tons of
fuel.
Scientists are able to extract deuterium from sea water so with
fusion power the world's oceans would contain enough energy to meet
human needs for the next 6 billion years.
(China Daily May 26, 2006)