Int'l body promoting next-generation fusion energy joins World Expo in Osaka

The Mainichi

03-05-2025

OSAKA (Kyodo) -- A France-based international organization building an experimental nuclear fusion reactor is showcasing the clean energy technology at the World Exposition in Osaka, participating in the international event independently for the first time.
The exhibits of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Organization explain the fusion energy process and the experimental reactor being built in southern France.
While ITER Organization Director General Pietro Barabaschi is scheduled to visit the expo venue, Japan, the host of the six-month event, is highlighting its contribution to the project launched in 2007 to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy.
The project to build a demonstration fusion reactor involves China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States as well as the European Union.
Fusion energy is generated when light atomic nuclei such as those in hydrogen merge to form a heavier nucleus. The byproduct-free energy, which scientists believe is still decades away, is often dubbed "the Sun on Earth" as the nuclear reaction is similar to the process that powers the Sun.
Takayoshi Omae, the ITER Organization's chief strategist, says Japan has been playing a leading role in the project.
"I hope people of the next generation who visit the expo will pick up the baton from the current generation in the pursuit of a society free of conflict over resources," Omae said.
An experiment supporting the ITER project, conducted by a Japanese institute, in 2023 successfully produced a state of plasma in which light elements can fuse and yield energy.