What is ITER? ITER is a large international fusion experiment
aimed at demonstrating the scientific and technological
feasibility of fusion energy. ITER (Latin for "the way") will
play a critical role advancing the worldwide availability of
energy from fusion — the power source of the sun and the stars.
To produce practical amounts of fusion power on earth, heavy
forms of hydrogen are joined together at high temperature with
an accompanying production of heat energy. The fuel must be held
at a temperature of over 100 million degrees Celsius. At these
high temperatures, the electrons are detached from the nuclei of
the atoms, in a state of matter called plasma. U.S.
Contributions to ITER U.S. Contributions to ITER is a DOE Office
of Science Major Item of Equipment (MIE) project consisting of
procurement of hardware (including supporting R&D and design),
assignment of personnel (U.S. engineers and scientists) to the
ITER site in Cadarache, France, and in Field Teams in the ITER
parties, and cash contributions t