European Council agrees Eur5.61 billion funding for ITER fusion project

London — The European Council has agreed Eur5.61 billion ($6.80 billion) of new funding for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, project for the seven years to 2027, it said Feb. 22.

ITER is the biggest nuclear fusion project in the world, involving 35 nations seeking to build and operate the ITER Tokamak machine, currently in construction in Cadarache, southern France.

"According to [European] Commission estimates, the important achievement of the first plasma will probably take place in December 2025, with the full operation estimated in 2035," the Council said.

Fusion energy as a viable commercial energy source is not expected to produce electricity before 2050, it said.

The ITER agreement was signed in November 2006 by Euratom, the US, Russia, Japan, China, South Korea and India.

Construction of the 500 MW ITER Tokamak is 72% complete, according to ITER's website.

The world record for fusion power is held by the European tokamak JET, which in 1997 produced 16 MW of fusion power from a total input heating power of 24 MW.

The in-construction ITER Tokamak is designed to produce a 10-fold return on energy, or 500 MW of fusion power from 50 MW of input heating power.

The project will not capture the energy it produces as electricity, but prepares the way for a machine that can, ITER said.