It's supported by both the federal and Ontario provincial governments and in October, Canada will be hosting the international ITER Council. Both the Power Workers and OPG see ITER as an incredible opportunity to breathe some new life into Canada's failing nuclear program. Locating ITER at Bruce would provide new jobs for workers displaced by nuclear shutdowns. At either location, OPG will be the default supplier for ITER's massive power needs. The big question is whether ITER represents the way of the future, or yet another nuclear boondoggle.
Critics are quick to point out that there is a serious credibility gap here.
When you make a commitment to build something of this size, something else doesn't get done. We have to ask ourselves what we would be missing if we were to pursue the ITER option. Rather than splitting atoms to create energy, fusion smacks them together at tremendous speeds. Energy economist David Argue disagrees. Concentrating on big energy projects flies in the face of everything we learned over the last 30 years.