FusEUrope – European cooperation in nuclear fusion research: from history to future policy design

FusEUrope is a multidisciplinary analysis of the history of techno-scientific cooperation in nuclear fusion energy research for pacific uses in Europe in relation to the process of European political integration, from its early phases at EURATOM in 1957 up to the establishment of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) in 2007. The results of the historical & epistemological analyses will be used to frame a multi-national survey in five EU countries on the public acceptability of controlled thermonuclear Nuclear fusion is considered a future viable solution for a sustainable provision of large amounts of energy with relatively minor environmental impact, and historians have claimed nuclear fusion research to be central in the European integration process. Yet, the history of European cooperation on fusion research has been rarely addressed by professional historians. Its long-term history is terra incognita and no attempt has been made to connect the history of science to the history of international relations. Also, nuclear fusion not only faces the hurdle of developing a technology considered "always 20 years away", but it must also overcome a strong "double bias" against large infrastructure projects & nuclear energy. Win over public support represents the largest non-technical challenge in fusion energy development, and therefore identifying the conditions under which public acceptability is achieved is critical, yet severely under-studied.