DOE panel outlines 10-year plan for fusion research
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.028277
Nature : The Department of Energy’s Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) has released a report that recommends cutting two fusion projects in favor of increased focus on ITER . The report suggests that MIT’s Alcator C-Mod reactor, which had been defunded in 2012 but restarted this year, be shut down in 2015. Depending on the budget outlook, it also recommends closing either General Atomics’ DIII-D in San Diego, California, or the National Spherical Torus Experiment in Princeton, New Jersey, by 2020. The committee did recommend constructing some new facilities and upgrading current ones, but it was not allowed to reconsider the US contribution to ITER. ITER has already cost $50 billion, 10 times its projected cost, and is 11 years behind schedule.
