Good news on nuclear fusion

It looks like good news. Tomorrow ministers from the world’s richest and largest countries are due to sign an agreement to spend huge sums on an experimental nuclear fusion reactor. According to article on the BBC website:

“On 21 November ministers from Europe, Japan, the People’s Republic of China, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States of America meet in Paris to sign an agreement to construct an international experiment on the scale of a fusion power plant – Iter (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor; “the way” in Latin) in the South of France.”

Nuclear fusion is the reaction that powers the sun and other stars. It relies on the fusion of two isotopes of hydrogen – deuterium and tritium – to produce large amounts of energy. If it can be harnessed in a controlled reaction it has the potential to provide huge amounts of plentiful energy for humanity.