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| ITER |
In the near future, maybe even a decade or sooner, the most complex machine ever built by mankind will be up and running. This machine is called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). To perform fusion, ITER will have to achieve temperatures of extreme heat, its insides getting to more than two hundred million degrees Celsius. This is ten times the heat of our suns core. When ITER reaches these extreme temperatures, it will be able to perform fusion. Although, there would be one small problem. No substance on earth would be able to withstand such tremendous heat. To solve this, ITER will use a "magnetic bottle" to keep its extremely hot contents contained.
To create this much advanced technology, it will take a lot devotion, preparation, funding, and time. The cost of ITER is unknown, but peoples estimates are gradually growing, making ITER the most expensive scientific instrument on earth. Although, if ITER succeeds, the world will have a solution to its energy problems for the next thirty million years. Scientists also hope that with ITER, they can generate power with no carbon, almost no pollution, and very little radioactive waste. Plus, ITER runs only on lithium and seawater and would never melt down.
