28/07/2020 (Agence Europe) – After more than a decade of designing and manufacturing ten million components, the assembly phase of the international ITER project was officially launched on Tuesday 28 July in Cadarache (France). Aiming to demonstrate that fusion – the energy of the sun and stars – can be used as a large-scale, non-CO2 emitting source of energy to produce electricity, the ITER project brings together some 35 countries that have decided to join forces and build the world’s largest fusion machine. Manufactured in different countries around the world, the components will now be assembled on the French site by a team of 3,000 people. Describing the event as an important milestone for the development of fusion energy, European Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said that the ITER project “represents the determination of the EU in the fight against climate change”, while welcoming the international cooperation surrounding it. (DG)