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THE dream of tapping the enormous power released when hydrogen isotopes fuse
together never seems to get any closer. Ever since research into nuclear fusion
began fifty years ago, the promise of endless energy has always been 鈥渄ecades
away鈥�. Now physicists say the very earliest a power-producing reactor could be
built is 2050.

The lure of jam tomorrow was never going to convince politicians for long,
especially when research worldwide swallows up 1.4 billion euros a year
(拢840 million) of taxpayers鈥� money. Small wonder then that since 1998,
plans to build the vast International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)
have come juddering to a halt.

Now, fusion researchers are pleading for 3.5 billion euros to build a
slimmed-down version of ITER. This would be a prelude to a prototype that
actually generated electricity
(see p 4). Last week Russian fusion scientist,
Evgenii Velikhov, warned that if the reactor isn鈥檛 built now it probably never
will be.

That presents physicists with some hard choices, because governments are
unlikely to stump up more cash. If they really think the way forward is with the
revamped ITER, they will have to scrape the cost together from existing funds.
Over a decade, a quarter of the global fusion budget would build it.

But that would mean closing some of the world鈥檚 smaller and more exotic
fusion reactors. Perhaps laser-confinement fusion needs downgrading (though its
role in simulating nuclear explosions may stymie this). It鈥檚 time for fusion
scientists to make up their minds. The price for restoring political faith in
their dream will be high.