Last week

16 billion international effort aiming to prove the viability of fusion as an energy source, shook off nagging worries that soaring costs and management problems, combined with Europe's economic woes, could lead to the downsizing or even killing of the experimental reactor. ITER's governing council finally approved the project's so-called Baseline, an extensive document outlining its cost, schedule, and design, and officially named Osamu Motojima, former director-general of Japan's National Institute for Fusion Science, as ITER's new leader. The major steps forward brought almost audible sighs of relief from fusion scientists, who can now look forward to 2019, when ITER is supposed to produce its first plasma. Full story at 2 / 616 -a? sa_campaign = Email/sntw/6-August-2010/10.112 6/science.329.5992.616-a