International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

Currently underway is the development of ITER by an international consortium. It seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of magnetic confinement nuclear fusion as a source of energy.

Construction of the ITER facility began in 2008 and first plasma is expected in 2018. It's location is Cadarache in the south of France. This facility will build upon the understandings developed at the Princeton TFTR tokamak facility and other magnetic confinement research. The design goal is to produce 500 MW of output power for 50 MW of input power, or a tenfold yield. This reactor would then form the model for the construction of commercial power reactors.