Brussels, 28/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 28 June in Moscow, Commissioner Janez Potocnik welcomed the signing of the declaration in which six parties: EU, Russia, China, Japan, USA and South Korea are committed to building the experimental reactor for thermo-nuclear fusion, ITER, at Cadarache, “Today, we are making history in terms of international scientific cooperation. After long and difficult negotiations, the six parties to the international negotiations on the ITER fusion research programme, meeting in Moscow, have decided that ITER should be located at the site proposed by the EU - Cadarache in southern France. As a project of unprecedented complexity spanning more than a generation, ITER marks a major step forward in international science cooperation…Now that we have reached consensus on the site for ITER, we will make all efforts to finalise the agreement on the project, so that construction can begin as soon as possible.
After an eighteen month showdown, Japan has therefore agreed for the reactor to be located in France, which opens the way to ratifying the agreement during a meeting under the International Atomic Energy Agency. The international project aims to reproduce the physical reaction - fusion - that occurs in the sun. This will involve producing a tritium atom up to 100 million degrees Celsius. If the project is successful, it could provide a large-scale energy source that is renewable, with no CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. Its cost, 50% of the EUR 10bn (half for building the reactor) will assumed by the EU (20% by France and 30% out of the Community budget, with each of the five other partners contributing up to 10%. But beyond the direct financial cost, Europeans have had to concede to a “privileged partnership” with the Japanese for obtaining their agreement. The Japanese agreed that their Rokkasho-Mura site would be rejected on the condition that the EU agreed to: transfer 10% of acquisitions of high technology components on the Japanese market; to pay for 8% of ITER construction costs in Japan, after ITER; support the appointment of a Japanese candidate for the post of ITER Director General and the right of Japan to have a staff level that is higher than its share in the project (up to 20% instead of 10%); relocate some management functions to Japan and support the candidacy of a Japanese site for building a demonstration reaction in the event of a new phase of the international agreement.