16-06-2020, 05:19 AM
The large tokamak fusion reactor under construction in Caderache in the South of France is called ITER. ITER initially stood for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. Of course the press had a field day. Thermonuclear - like bombs? Experimental - so not proven, and Reactor!
An hence the dialog was not about clean energy, where the amount of reacting material at any time is measured in grams, and after the end of the project the entire site can be recycled after ten years with no spent fuel at all, but about the project name.
However the project was committed to the name. So some genius spotted that the Latin word iter means journey. So they reinterpreted the meaning of ITER as "the way forward". And with a bound they were free.
An hence the dialog was not about clean energy, where the amount of reacting material at any time is measured in grams, and after the end of the project the entire site can be recycled after ten years with no spent fuel at all, but about the project name.
However the project was committed to the name. So some genius spotted that the Latin word iter means journey. So they reinterpreted the meaning of ITER as "the way forward". And with a bound they were free.
