The search for a cheap and inexhaustible way to meet global energy needs took a major step forward today with the announcement by the 30-nation consortium of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project deciding on France to host the world's first nuclear fusion reactor. With the price of crude oil reaching a record price of USD60.95 a barrel this week, the significance of the decision (which was between France and Japan) couldn't have been more apparent. The 10 billion euro experimental reactor that should now begin taking shape in Cadarache, southern France, will seek to turn seawater into fuel by mimicking the way the sun produces energy. We have truly been looking forward to this development for a long, long time. This can only be a good sign although critics argue it could be at least 50 years before a commercially viable reactor is built, if at all. Hey, Rome wasn't built in a day, so I suppose we could cut some slack on this since we are trying to recreate how the sun produces energy here and that's no small matter! Fusion power, here we come!!!
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