In a pre-mid-term election article from Science Magazine there is a discussion of the merits of continued American funding of the multinational ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor).
In a post election blog entry on Roll Call, the funding of the ITER ($150 million) was passed dependent on changes to the management and reporting structure of the project,as well as the ability to provide a base line cost analysis. The project is significantly over budget from original estimates and between four and nine years behind schedule for the facility to go online.
Currently under construction (since 2007) in Cadarache, France, the ITER is to be a multinational experiment in the nuclear fusion on a grand scale. The original date for ITER to go online was 2016. The current estimate is now some point between 2020 and 2025. The 2003 forecast was for the total cost of the project to be about $5 billion dollars, and has been growing ever since. The EU is to pay 40%, the USA, Russia, China, India, Japan, and Korea are each on the hook for 10% of the total cost. The cost inflation and the issues with the management structure are proving to be a hurdle in the US congress.
