Introduction

Abstract

Geneva, 19 November 1985. Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan met for the first time. During this summit mainly devoted to disarmament, the Soviet leader proposed to his American counterpart an ambitious program of research and experimentation on a subject on which scientists of his country had been devoting much attention for years: verifying the scientific and technological feasibility of nuclear fusion as a new source of energy. Very consistent with the detente and cooling of tensions in the post-Cold War world, this proposal for a peaceful use of nuclear energy had considerable symbolic meaning. More importantly, it had huge prospects for controlling the process of nuclear fusion in order to produce clean and virtually limitless energy from abundant elements in nature, provided a long-term scientific investment was made. The following year, the United States, the European Union and Japan agreed to join the Soviet Union and conduct this program, whose economic reach, if successful, would be considerable: the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) was born. Later, China, India and South Korea joined the adventure. On 17 November 2010, the foundation stone of the experimental reactor was laid in France on the Cadarache site.