In response to a request in September by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Science for a quick opinion, the National Research Council’s burning plasma assessment committee has issued an interim report recommending that the US enter negotiations to rejoin the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project. At the same time, the report says, a strategy for expanding the US fusion program should be “further defined and evaluated.”
The NRC committee, cochaired by physicists John Ahearn and Raymond Fonck, said in its report that “a strategically balanced fusion program, including meaningful US participation in ITER and a strong domestic fusion science program, must be maintained, recognizing that this will eventually require a substantial augmentation in fusion program funding in addition to the direct financial commitment to ITER construction.” The committee’s recommendation follows a similar endorsement, made last fall by DOE’s independent fusion energy sciences advisory committee, to rejoin ITER...
