The worlds largest fusion experiment is finally beginning to take shape. Workers at a vast site in southern France have dug the 17-metre-deep pit that will house the ITER reactor, and will soon install 500 pillars of steel-reinforced concrete that should protect the machine during an earthquake. But even as they toil, a quake halfway around the world has struck a blow to the project. The 11 March earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, one of seven partners in ITER, severely damaged key facilities for testing the reactors components. Unless repairs can be made or work reassigned quickly, the damage could cause a delay of "perhaps several years", according to Osamu Motojima, ITER's director. Motojima says that he and his team are looking at ways to reduce the impact. "At present my target is less than one year's delay," he says.
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