The ITER international nuclear fusion reactor is likely to go into operation much later than previously planned. The project team, which is based in Saint-Paul-lez-Durance in the south of France, said on Wednesday that it is now planning to start research operations in 2034. Originally, it was hoped that the first plasma would be used as early as next year, though ITER says this would only have been a short, low-energy machine test. The new schedule is intended to bring a more complete machine into action. The ITER reactor is intended to generate energy from the fusion of hydrogen atoms and th…