When You Wish Upon a Star: Nuclear Fusion and the Promise of a Brighter Tomorrow
28th January 2015
Everything about the project, known as Iter (formerly known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), is huge. The main fusion reactor will be built on a flattened area of concrete that has been blasted into the hills at Cadarache and stretches to 60 football pitches. Around 2.5m cubic metres of earth and rubble were excavated from what was originally a small valley that undulated by several hundred metres in parts. That concrete baseplate sits on dozens of pillars containing layers of rubber sandwiched between the mortar and cement – not only do these pillars raise the building above the height of the surrounding countryside (the height was calculated to be above the maximum height that water would flow past if the nearby dam broke), they also create a “seismic isolation pit” that will protect the building from earthquakes.
And it’s not happening in America because bureaucrats and eco-Nazis have made it too expensive. Lucky us.