It was one of the smallest pieces in the world’s biggest science project that turned into the most vexing coronavirus supply-chain hurdle for Bernard Bigot.
The 70-year-old physicist is responsible for making sure the $22 billion ITER fusion reactor in France starts running on time.
His machine, using more than a million pieces sourced from 35 countries, was supposed to begin testing in five years -- at least that was the timeline before the pandemic hit.
Economies are counting on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor to prove whether limitless quantities of clean energy can be generated by mimicking the power that makes stars shine -- a potential panacea to slow global warming on Earth. “We were on a tight schedule with our