World's largest nuclear fusion reactor is finally completed

The International Fusion Energy Project (ITER) fusion reactor, consisting of 19 massive coils looped into multiple toroidal magnets, was originally slated to begin its first full test in 2020. Now scientists say it will fire in 2039 at the earliest.

This means that fusion power, of which ITER's tokamak is at the forefront, is very unlikely to arrive in time to be a solution for the clinate crisis.

Certainly, the delay of ITER is not going in the right direction," Pietro Barabaschi, ITER's director general, said at a news conference on Wednesday (July 3). "In terms of the impact of nuclear fusion on the problems humanity faces now, we should not wait for nuclear fusion to resolve them. This is not prudent."

The world's largest nuclear fusion reactor is the product of collaboration between 35 countries including every state in the European Union, Russia, China, India and the U.S. ITER contains the world's most powerful magnet, making it capable of producing a magnetic field 280,000 times as strong as the one shielding Earth.

The reactor's impressive design comes with an equally hefty price-tag. Originally slated to cost around $5 billion and fire up in 2020, it has now suffered multiple delays and its budget swelled beyond $22 billion, with an additional $5 billion proposed to cover additional costs. These unforeseen expenses and delays are behind the most recent, 15-year delay.