It has been tried for more than 60 years to recreate the basic energy process of the sun in a contained and controllable form on Earth. Results of major research attempts by numerous prominent institutions did indeed prove the possibility of nuclear fusion in controlled laboratory experiments. However, until now, we were unable to achieve the great expectations of this novel technology. Experiments did not yet achieve a continuous and positive energy gain. Although the theoretical background of fusion as a source of energy has been solidly established, experiments on a smaller scale have not yet yielded a positive energy balance (less total energy needed to keep the fusion process going than comes out as a net result).

It is therefore that seven large countries together have decided to build a very large scale fusion test reactor of the Tokamak type, the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). The Tokamak technology has been extensively tested in the UK on a smaller but still impressive scale (the JET experiment) and in many other facilities throughout the world. This technology is the most advanced and offers the best perspective for a continued development at this time.

The ITER facility is being constructed in the South of France and will require an investment of 10 to 20 billion Euro. Construction materials must be developed and tested to operate safely under extreme conditions such as -273 C for the superconducting magnets and +100 to 150 million C for the plasma inside the chamber. First test results may not be expected before 10-15 years from now. The ITER test reactor may become the most important scientific and technological project of the first half of this century.

This investment may look very large for a single experiment, which in fact it is! We must however see this in perspective with the total annual cost of energy to keep our world going. We are talking about an amount of money in the same order of magnitude as one year of shareholders' profit of one major oil company. This leads us to the following question:
"Are we putting enough effort into safeguarding, resp. upgrading the future living standard and welfare of something like 7 billion people on this planet?"
It will be no surprise that our answer is no!

FEF wants to take a more diversified look at Fusion.
Let us realize that it may take 25 years or longer before we can expect any firm conclusion on the viability of the Tokamak technology. We should not put all our eggs in one basket.

The international community is putting sizeable funding and efforts into one class of technology and equipment. In the end the Tokamak may prove to be the right choice for large and very large scale energy generation. But the Tokamak is not the only available candidate. World wide there are more than 50 institutions working on the subject. A wide diversity of methods of fusion and fusion fuels has been extensively tried out. Some with promising results, some may even enable fusion on a smaller scale. In this respect we could realistically think of mobile power generators (ships, airplanes, rockets and satellites) Some early successes with lab scale experiments justify full attention and further evaluation.

Fusion offers no doubt the world's best chance as an energy source for the long term. But the scientific/technical community may find it its toughest challenge ever to bring to maturity. It would therefore be a dangerous waste of time to run along a single track.