This is sad news... Hope it doesnt get to many years behind schedule though. Seeing as this is Russia Today, I think its appropiate to mention that, altough many parts and technologies in the planned reactor are developed in Europe and the rest of the world, the principle for this reactor was developed in Russia in the 50`s (I think). The succesfull soviet test results of the principle, called a "Tokamak", stunned western scientists, but it did not get a positive netto power gain... That is what scientists from nearly the whole industrialized world are trying to acheive now.

This ITER project should have been set-up in a serious scientific institution like the CERN in Geneva. The french actual mess could transform a good idea on an other fiasco like it happened in Creys-Malville with the Surregenerator reactor which proved it feasability, except for the dangerosity of the cooling system, requiring several tons of sodium.(It vas also a multi-nations' association)...Sincerely. Jean-Claude Meslin