China will undertake nearly 10 percent of an international
fusion-research project to be implemented this year.
The project is called ITER and wants to demonstrate the
scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power - the energy
of the sun or hydrogen bomb - for peaceful use.
"The project aims to find a shortcut to solve our energy
shortage," Luo Delong, deputy director of the ITER China Office,
said at the Oriental Science and Technology Forum held in Shanghai
over the weekend.
He said Chinese researchers would be in charge of producing
various components of the project and escorting them into Cadarache
in the south of France where the ITER's key equipment will be
constructed.
China will inject about one billion yuan (US$137.5 million) into
the project, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the overall ITER
investment, officials said.
Other partners in the project include the European Union, the
United States, Japan, India and Russia.
According to Zhang Jie, a fusion-power scientist of Jiao Tong
University, researchers of universities in Shanghai, including
Fudan and Donghua, are conducting fusion-related studies.
China will further enhance its education in the area to lift the
country's overall research power.
The long-term objective of the research is to harness fusion
nuclear energy to help meet the future energy needs of mankind,
project officials said.
The aim of ITER is to show fusion can be used to generate
electrical power and do the preparation work to build and operate
an electricity-producing plant.
The key part of the project is to develop a viable fusion-power
reactor.
Scientists of ITER will test a number of key technologies,
including the heating, control, diagnostic and remote maintenance
that will be needed for a real fusion-power station, officials
said.
Local experts said fusion may produce dozens of times more
energy than fission, which now directs most of the world's
nuclear-power plants.
Fission can only be caused by uranium. However, the resource to
trigger fusion can be found in ordinary substances from the sea,
they said.
According to the Website of ITER, the overall construction cost
of ITER is estimated at five billion euros (US$7.37 billion) over
10 years and another five billion euros are earmarked for the
20-year operation period.
The ITER organization owns the ITER device and is responsible
for all aspects of the project, such as licensing procedures,
hardware procurements and operation.
(Shanghai Daily January 7, 2008)