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International Agreement on Experimental Energy

A multi-billion-dollar project dubbed "Iter", Latin for "the way" aimed at providing clean and virtually limitless energy from a nuclear reaction similar to that of the Sun. The project which is based in France has matured through years of talks between the US, the EU, China, Japan, Russia, India and South Korea. If the project proceeds as planed Iter could run in power lines in 30-years time.

Jerome Pamela, who works for Iter, said: "Fusion could become the dominant source of electricity on Earth in a century or so - we have to work to try to get it," He added that "Not doing so would be irresponsible because the outcome could be huge, great for humanity," The process Iter is planned to work on is the fusion of two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium to together form a heavy atomic nuclei. For the process to work gas has to be heated to a temperature of over 100 million degrees Celsius, a temperature a lot hoter then that which is found in the Sun`s center. The requirements for extraction are extremely demanding but experts say they are worth while as this process generates 10 million times as much energy as burning petroleum, for example. The process also requires very little fuel to work.

The work on the Iter facilities will begin in the Spring, when work on constructing the Iter center in Cadarache, the Provence-Alpes-Cote d`Azur region, will begin. The reactor itself will begin taking shape in 2009. Environmental groups have complained that the money spent on this project could be spent on already proven green-energy sources that have already been proven to be efficient. These environmental groups state waist disposal to be the projects biggest problem.