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New Scientist report that representatives from China, the European Union, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States signed a pact to build a fusion reactor. The EU will put up 50% of the cost and the reactor will be built in Cardache in Southern France.

Opinions are currently divided on the value of Nuclear Fusion for civilian power. Critics of the project point to the its monopolisation of vast resources that could be spent on other alternative energy research. One critic, William Parkins, whose damning criticism of the viability of fusion power were published posthumously in Science, argued strongly against the possibility of quickly overcoming basic engineering problems. Greenpeace also argue strongly againstr the proportion of alternative energy resources to be consumed by the project

Bib.

Parkins, William E., “ENERGY: Fusion Power: Will It Ever Come?” Science 10 March 2006 311: 1380 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1125657] (in Policy Forum)