ITER (pronounced 'eater') stands for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the name was also chosen because iter means 'the way' in Latin.
The design of ITER is based on NET (Next European Torus), the once-planned successor to JET. However the international community (except the USA) realised a joint effort would be more efficient, hence the birth of ITER with the major partners of Europe, Japan, Russia and Canada. The USA joined the programme in 2002, along with China.
ITER will run in parallel with a materials test facility, the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility or IFMIR, which will develop materials suitable for use in the extreme conditions that will be found in future fusion power plants. Both of these will be followed by a demonstration power plant, DEMO, which would generate electricity. A prototype plant to follow DEMO would be the first to produce commercial power.
ITER will produce approximately 500MW of fusion power in a steady-state (compared to JET's peak of 16MW over less than a second), utilising super-conducting magnets and ion-cyclotron heating.
See also JET, nuclear fusion, plasma physics, magnetic fusion energy, timeline of nuclear fusion.
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