The Department of Energy made that statement in a report to Congress in late May. But the report also said the next administration should reevaluate US participation in late 2017 or early 2018. The tepid endorsement applauded improvements made to the management of the $22 billion international fusion test reactor since Bernard Bigot took over as director general in March 2015 (see Physics Today, January 2016, page 30). The report pegged US costs for ITER at $4.6 billion to $4.8 billion through 2035, when operations with tritium fuel are expected to commence. Through 2025, when ITER will create its first plasma using only deuterium fuel, US costs will total $3.2 billion, the report said.
In an April ballpark estimate, ITER’s administration put the total project cost up to first plasma at $20 billion to $25 billion. The figure implies that the 9% US share of the project won’t...
