Nature
News: The world's largest fusion experiment is finally
beginning to take shape. Workers at a vast site in southern
France have dug the 17-meter-deep pit that will house the
ITER reactor, and will soon
install 500 pillars of steel-reinforced concrete that should
protect the machine during an earthquake. But even as they
toil, a quake halfway around the world has struck a blow to the
project.The 11 March earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, one
of seven partners in ITER, severely damaged key facilities for
testing the reactor's components. Unless repairs can be made or
work reassigned quickly, the damage could cause a delay of
"perhaps several years," according to Osamu Motojima, ITER's
director. Motojima says that he and his team are looking at
ways to reduce the impact. "At present my target is less than
one year's delay," he says.
