#109 Open Letter to Editors of The Guardian

Feb. 17, 2022

John Mulholland, Editor, Guardian U.S.
Katharine Viner, Editor-in-Chief
Kerry Eustice, Managing Editor
Merope Mills, Executive Editor
Regina Buckley, President of Guardian US

Dear Editors,

In several news articles, the Guardian has published inaccurate information about the purpose and primary design objective of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion reactor.

Examples:

• “In 1991, scientists at JET became the first in the world to produce energy from a deuterium/tritium plasma. While JET generated 16 MW of power, ITER is designed to produce some 500 MW in 400-second bursts.” (Ian Sample, Jan. 29, 2009)
• “Cowley is referring to the moment of parity when the amount of energy they extract from a tokamak equals the amount of energy they put into it. At present, the best-ever “shot” – as the scientists refer to each fusion reaction attempt – came in 1997 when, for just two seconds, the JET (Joint European Torus) tokamak at Culham achieved 16MW of fusion power from an input of 25MW. … ‘We could produce net electricity right now, but the costs would be huge,’ says Cowley. … ITER which, it is hoped, will demonstrate the commercial viability of fusion by producing a tenfold power gain of 500MW during shots lasting up to an hour.” (Leo Hickman, Aug. 23, 2011)
• “[ITER’s] design is a scaled-up version of JET, and the scientists here want to produce 500 megawatts of power, 10 times its predicted input.” (Alok Jha, Jan. 25, 2015)
• “ITER should be completed in 15-20 years and claims to deliver 500 MW of power, about the same as today’s large fission reactors.” (Damian Carrington, Oct. 17, 2016)
• “‘We are convinced we can deliver hundreds of megawatts through ITER,’ up to 10 times more energy than is put in, says David Campbell.” (Damian Carrington, Dec. 2, 2016)
• “JET hasn’t even managed to break even, energy-wise. Its best ever result, in 1997, remains the gold standard for fusion power – but it achieved just 16 MW of output for 25 MW of input.” (Editors, March 12, 2018)
• “In 1997 JET set a world record for the highest ratio of energy out to energy in. But that was still just two-thirds of the break-even point where the reactor isn’t consuming energy overall. … [ITER] hopes to conduct its first experimental runs in 2025, and eventually to produce 500 megawatts (MW) of power – 10 times as much as is needed to operate it.” (Philip Ball, Oct. 27, 2019)
• “ITER project will replicate the reactions that power the sun and is intended to demonstrate fusion power can be generated on a commercial scale. … The ITER project will be the first to achieve a “burning” or self-heating plasma and is expected to generate 10 times more heat than is put in, far more than any previous attempt.” (Damian Carrington, July 28, 2020)

ITER Power Facts

ITER is designed to inject 50 megawatts of heating power into the fuel to create a fusion plasma with 500 megawatts of thermal power. That is its primary scientific purpose and design objective, according to the ITER Design Specification published by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2002.

If ITER accomplishes that objective, the overall reactor will use at least 300 megawatts of electricity continuously throughout the experiment. Since 2017, some fusion scientists have started saying that the ITER reactor will need 50 megawatts to start the reaction. That is not the same as the power needed to start the reactor, which is 500 megawatts of electricity.

On this Web page, I list 11 sources that describe the operating power requirement for ITER in the 300-megawatt range. I list three references that are in the 400-megawatt range.

These facts mean that the overall ITER reactor, if it works as designed, will not produce net power or net energy.

JET Power Facts

The ITER power discrepancy was a direct successor to the JET power discrepancy. Here’s an example of the false power claims about JET, as you published on March 12, 2018: “[JET] remains the gold standard for fusion power – but it achieved just 16 MW of output for 25 MW of input.”

JET’s 1997 result still holds the record for power output. But the 16-megawatt output needed an input of 700 megawatts. Full technical details about both reactors are here.

For Your Readers 

The ITER organization claims that the ITER reactor will “prove that fusion power can be produced on a commercial scale and is sustainable.” It says that the project “aims to demonstrate that it is possible to produce commercial energy from fusion.”

With a projected net power loss for the overall reactor, the upper management of the organization knows that they cannot possibly deliver such promises.

Perhaps your readers would appreciate learning the facts now.

Steven B. Krivit
Publisher and Senior Editor, New Energy Times