Gloomy future for EU nuclear fusion project

Date: 17/07/1997

By Rory Watson

UNCERTAINTY is increasingly clouding the future of the EU's 20-year-old research programme on the use of nuclear fusion to create a plentiful supply of cheap and safe electricity.

Doubts over the fate of the Joint European Taurus (JET) project are being fuelled by a combination of internal staffing and budgetary problems, concern at the long lead-time before fusion becomes commercially viable and the programme's own success in tackling its original objective.

Earlier this year, an independent panel under former European Commissioner Viscount Davignon was told that JET had met its target of obtaining and studying a plasma in conditions approaching those needed in a thermonuclear reactor.

“There is unanimity that the present structure should not be renewed as it is when it expires at the end of 1999. JET has accomplished its tasks and it is just one part of a wider European effort involving 4,000 people. If we made every initiative eternal, then they would not be sustainable,” explained one EU scientist.

Budgetary constraints are also emerging as governments, MEPs and some forces within the European Commission look to switch more Union funds away from research and development and towards policies to nurture industrial competitiveness.

“There is considerable disquiet at the amount of money going towards fusion research. This is very long-term research and I am not sure it is wise to continue funding it. Other countries like Canada and Japan are getting cold feet as well,” said Eryl McNally, the European Parliament Socialist Group's research spokeswoman.

“We know we will not be generating electricity from nuclear fusion for the next 40 years. We could perhaps spend the money more wisely. We should not be trapped in something we cannot get out of.”

The debate over the future of the JET programme at Culham in the UK has been complicated by the two-tier employment policy now being practised at the centre.

On the insistence of the UK authorities, some 200 British scientists seconded to JET are still employed by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), while an equal number of their Irish and continental colleagues have temporary EU posts.

Last December, after years of protest from UK staff, the European Court of First Instance ruled that the discrimination in salary and career prospects was unjustified. The judgement has forced JET to modify its staff statutes, which are due to be approved later this year.

The decision has highlighted the discrepancies which have operated at JET for years and which will affect the Culham-based scientists if the research programme loses its European status. While many continentals may find places back in their national laboratories, severe cuts in the UKAEA make this unlikely for their British colleagues.

Originally established in 1978 for 12 years, JET has since seen its mandate extended three times. Officials on the programme suggest that even if the centre were to lose its current status, it would probably continue to operate as a smaller UK laboratory.

But such a switch would almost certainly lead to a major argument between EU governments over funding.

The UK government would be unlikely to take kindly to any significant increase in costs if it took over sole responsibility for running Culham.

Further doubts about the political commitment to fusion research have also been sparked by the growing reluctance of major governments to commit themselves to continuing development of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which is drawing on JET's research.