Iraq divisions may affect reactor siting

Date: 15/05/03

By Jane Davis

DIVISIONS in the run-up to the Iraq war are being echoed in a row over where ITER, the international thermonuclear experimental reactor, should be sited.

France, Spain, Canada and Japan are bidding to host the €5 billion project - the biggest global scientific collaboration after the International Space Station - which aims to develop a new source of energy produced from fusing atoms.

The United States is a key backer of the project and may be influential in deciding where it will be sited. The prospects look bleak for France as a result of its opposition to the war in Iraq, but much better for Spain which came out in full support of the US.

Although the official line from the US Department of Energy is that "the US has not endorsed any site for ITER", Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is reported to be examining the Spanish bid in detail.

The European Commission would obviously prefer an EU member state to win the project, but believes the Union would have a better chance of defeating the bids from Canada and Japan by putting forward only one site.

The Commission has proposed that an independent group of experts should assess the merits and weaknesses of each case. All member states apart from Spain support this approach.

There appear to be international divisions of where the international thermonuclear experimental reactor should be sited.