Friedberg @ 00:40:30Wrong
scienceclimate
The ITER fusion project in Europe, a roughly $30 billion production-scale fusion demonstration facility, will be online and operating by the end of the 2020s.
the biggest funding is happening in Iter, which is the largest construction project in Europe, and this is a $30 billion production scale fusion demonstration system that should be online by the end of the 2020s.View on YouTube
Explanation
Friedberg predicted that ITER, a ~$30B production‑scale fusion demonstration facility in Europe, would be “online” and operating by the end of the 2020s.
Current information shows this cannot happen under ITER’s own official schedule:
- In July 2024, ITER adopted a new baseline in which first plasma is delayed to at least the early/mid‑2030s (around 2033–2034), with deuterium–deuterium operations starting in 2035 and deuterium–tritium (burning plasma) operations in 2039. (en.wikipedia.org)
- A 2024 U.S. Congressional research report likewise notes that ITER announced it would not be fully operational (with burning plasma) until 2039, with substantial cost increases. (congress.gov)
- Independent coverage of the revised baseline (e.g., The Chemical Engineer, DDay.it) also reports research operations beginning in the early 2030s and D–T fusion not before 2039. (thechemicalengineer.com)
Given these officially adopted plans, ITER will not be online and operating as a fusion demonstration facility by 2029; its operational milestones are now placed firmly in the 2030s. Even if further schedule changes occur, they would have to pull a 2030s roadmap forward by nearly a decade, which is incompatible with all current project planning. Therefore, the prediction that ITER would be online and operating by the end of the 2020s is wrong based on the information available today.