EU en Japan akkoord over snelle beslissing locatie kernfusiereactor (en)

The EU and Japan will speed up discussions over the world's first nuclear fusion reactor so that a July deadline can be met, the European Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik i and the Japanese Minister of Science and Technology Nariaki Nakayama agreed yesterday (12 April) in Japan.

"They undertook to accelerate their discussion on the agreed roles of host and non-host and will aim to reach an international agreement among 6 parties on the issue of the ITER site before July 2005," a Commission spokesperson said.

The agreement comes after the call for a solution "at a high political level" by Mr Potocnik, as the sensitive talks were previously confined to the experts.

The ITER Project (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), is set to begin in 2005, but consensus among the six parties involved (EU, USA, Japan, Russia, China and South Korea) over the location of the site is yet to be reached.

The EU, China and Russia are pressing for the venture to be built in Cadarache, France, while Japan, the US and South Korea want it to be built in Rokkasho-mura, Japan. Both parties claim their favoured locations fulfil all ITER requirements as they already host major nuclear facilities.

The project would represent a combined investment of 10 billion euro over a period of 30 years, making it the most expensive international scientific venture ever to be made since the international space station. Building two reactors instead of one, as was once proposed by Russia in 2003, would have prohibitive costs.

The EU, which intends to foot 40% of the bill, has signalled before that it is prepared to go it alone without Japan if no agreement is achieved on time, a position that Japan has said to be "regrettable".

The goal of the ITER project is to create a long-term solution to the world's energy problems, low on pollution and using only seawater as fuel.

Unlike common nuclear fission reactors, a nuclear fusion reactor has never been made in a commercially viable way.