Brussels, 14/05/2003 (Agence Europe) - After a long exchange of views on Tuesday, the Competitiveness Council reached agreement on a procedure for finalising a single European application to house the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), despite Spain's resistance. Two EU sites are in contention: the Vandellos nuclear plant in Spain, and the Cadarache Research Centre in France. Canada has put forward its Clarington site, and Japan that of Rokkasho. The possibility of a South Korean application has not been ruled out.
Greek Development Minister, Apostolos Tsochatzpoulous, who chaired the Council, said "all Member States agree to give the Commission a mandate to proceed to a comparative study of the two European sites". In practise, this means that the Commission has been invited by the Council to set up a group of experts to do this. Based on a range of "objective criteria", including costs, the study must be concluded this summer, to allow the Council to come to an agreement on the site to be retained for the European application in September. This procedure has France's approval, whereas Spain has always supported the approach of several European applications.