A new report by the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine (NAS), highlights the potential drawbacks if the US were to withdraw from the ITER project – a large international burning plasma experiment.
Despite some budget constraints and shortfalls in recent years, no such decision has been made and the US remains in the project, however the NAS Committee has been charged with investigating, from a scientific and strategic viewpoint, the best way forward for US fusion research including the study of a controlled burning plasma. The Committee has been asked to evaluate the implications of doing this in two ways: if the US remains in the ITER project, and also if the US were to pursue an independent pathway.
The NAS Committee fears that if the decision was made for the US to withdarw, it could isolate scientists from the international effort and require a new domestic approach to study fusion. This report is the first in a two-phase study examining the state and potential of magnetic fusion research in the US and providing guidance on a long-term strategy for the field.
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