China invests 4b yuan in ITER project in decade

BEIJING - China has invested four billion yuan (about $600 million) in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in the past 10 years, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) announced Tuesday.

The largest international scientific cooperation project in the world, the ITER is a France-based international nuclear fusion research and engineering project that explores commercial uses of fusion power.

It is jointly funded by China, the EU, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States.

"Since 2008, China has carried out nearly 120 fusion power projects and has made leading achievements," said Luo Delong from the MST.

Chinese scientists set a record by achieving 101.2 seconds of steady-state H-mode operation of the tokamak in July, an experimental device designed to harness the energy of fusion.

China's Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) -- the "artificial sun" -- was the first tokamak device to break the 100-second barrier.

According to the ITER's plan, the construction of the "artificial sun" will be completed by 2025, and the commercial uses of fusion power is expected to be available around 2050, said Pan Chuanhong from the MST.