Brussels, 27/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - Tired out by the infinite discussions on the project involving the thermo-nuclear fusion reactor (ITER project), the Dutch presidency of the EU has promised to use last Friday's Competitiveness Council a decisive moment for the development of this case (EUROPE 23 September p 9). An objective that no-one thinks has been attained given that the Twenty Five have decided to reach an agreement on the main elements in the future international agreement on ITER during the newt session of the Competitiveness Council on 25-26 November. An exchange of views at a ministerial level took place on 24 September but things do not appear to have advanced much since European Commissioner Philippe Busquin sent a letter to research minister of the EU suggesting a single Union strategy in the thermo-nuclear field.
In a relatively vague press statement published at the end of the Council, the Dutch presidency underlined that consensus on international cooperation should be as wide as possible and involve as many partners as possible. A formulation that looks at which partners. The Netherlands is not hiding its hope of reaching an agreement with all the partners on the project (the EU, Russia and China support setting up the reactor in Cadarache in France, while the USA, South Korea and Japan favour Rokkasho-Mura in Japan). A last chance meeting for the international ITER consortium is planned for mid-October in Vienna. The French admit that the EU Member States want an international approach that is as broad as possible an interpretation that is quite different as it does not exclude if necessary the launching of the project at the end of November without Japan and the USA but with other partners such as Brazil, India and Switzerland, which have displayed an interest in ITER. At the end of the Council the French delegate minister for research François d'Aubert said that they wanted to get as many countries together as possible, recognising that if they did not get there they would not get there but underline, nevertheless, that there was no question of closing the door on Japan and the USA.
Meanwhile, the Council has assigned the European Commission a series of tasks for envisaging the rapid start up of the ITER project on the European site. The Commission is called on to examine "the respective financial implications of the possible scenarios for ITERT and related activities", it being understood that the share of the cost of ITER construction to the Community budget should not exceed the resent estimate". This means that it will provide information on the financial contributions that are expected from Brazil, India and Switzerland, added to those from Russia and China, which support building the reactor in Cadarche. The cost of the ITER project is estimated at EUR 10 bn over 30 years (4.7 bn for constructing the reactor, plus an additional ten years for its work), including 40% from the Community budget. On Friday, François d'Aubert confirmed that France was ready to double its contribution to the project, bringing it up to EUR 914 million, 20% of the construction of the reactor.
Whatever happens, one thing is sure since Friday: the Europeans have decided to unlock the situation and according to the (ad interim) Commissioner for research Louis Michel, their determination for ITER to be built on the European site of Cadarache is unanimous.