I've always wondered: why exactly is ITER so expensive, and slow? Is the engineering required at such a standard that it should takes decades of planning and construction and tens of billions of dollars? The timeline is so dilated (started in 1988, first plasma planned for 2025!) it feels like the kind of project that's expected to be cancelled from the start.
It just doesn't strike me as obvious that reducing the major radius by a few meters would have such a huge impact on cost/timelines.
It just doesn't strike me as obvious that reducing the major radius by a few meters would have such a huge impact on cost/timelines.