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Our studio guest, Dr. Reinhard Grünwald, Office of Technology Assessment of the German BundestagWe talk with Reinhard Grünwald about ITER, the issues surrounding nuclear fusion and research into methods of generating energy that do not require fossil fuels and emit little or no greenhouse gasses.
DW-TV: What exactly can we expect from the ITER reactor?
Reinhard Grünwald: "The ITER reactor is one step in a big research program. The next step would be a demonstration reactor followed by the first commercial power plants, maybe in 50 years' time. That's the plan of the fusion research community. But there are still a lot of questions that need answers for this plan to be finally implemented.
DW-TV: Critics say these billions of euros should be spent on renewable energy instead – what are the pros and cons of continuing to pump money into fusion technology?"
Reinhard Grünwald: In my opinion it can't be wrong to spend more money on energy research as such, because it's such a big problem. We are struggling with climate-change issues. And it can also not be wrong to open new options for solving this energy problem. But as you said, it's a question of whether this amount of money -- we're talking about ten billion euros for the ITER reactor -- but the whole research program would be something like 60-80 billion euros over the next 50 years. And if you're talking about that kind of money, then it still raises the question: is it well spent on this path or maybe better spent on another path?
DW-TV: Putting the money to one side for the moment: What are the main objections to the ITER project?
Reinhard Grünwald: Well of course there is the radioactivity issue. That the radioactive inventar in the reactor is comparable to nuclear fission reactors. It will lose reactivity quicker. But you need to develop the materials for that and that's still an open research question of course."
DW-TV: Could fusion power help us move away from using fossil fuels completely?
Reinhard Grünwald: Well we have to move away from using fossil fuels. That's for sure because of climate change. But whether nuclear fusion takes a part in that is still an open question. It's a 50 year time horizon for the first electricity being created by fusion, so that's the big question. I think we have to solve this problem anyway, if we are managing to make fusion fly or not is basically not the question. We have to deal with this problem anyway."
DW-TV: What do you think the main energy source of the future will be?
Reinhard Grünwald: Renewables of course is one big part in the game and the other part is energy efficiency. We have to cut down on our energy use. These are the two building blocks of the future energy supply. If fusion can play a role then that's fine. But as I said we have to solve the problem irrespective of whether we can make fusion happen or not."
Interview: Heather de Lisle |