Race for nuclear fusion plant hots up

By Karen Carstens

Date: 20/11/03

EU MINISTERS are due to decide this month between two rival European sites bidding to host Iter, the international thermonuclear experimental reactor.

Both France and Spain have suggested sites for the €10 billion project that is expected to create around 10,000 jobs.

It will be the first large-scale nuclear fusion plant, as well as the world's biggest energy research centre.

EU research ministers, due to meet at the Competitiveness Council on 27 November, will vote to select a single site, which would then compete with rival bids from Clarington in Ontario, Canada, and Rokkasho in Japan.

The European Commission has already earmarked €750 million to cover the launch phase of Iter. Since the EU is set to be the largest financial contributor, possibly paying up to 30% of Iter's total cost, most independent observers reportedly believe it should be in Europe.

The United States, however, is a key backer of the project and may be influential in deciding where Iter will be sited. This would make prospects bleaker 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.

But the more critical long-term question, as one insider puts it, is "whether Iter's ever going to be commercially viable - it's tremendously expensive".

France believes it can provide the best location for Iter - the biggest global scientific collaboration after the International Space Station. Cadareche, in Provence, has the advantage of an excellent existing infrastructure for nuclear research.

However, the Spanish bid, for Vandellos in Catalonia, may offer lower construction costs.

Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar has argued that Spain should host Iter because the country's balanced budget and sound finances means it is in a better position to provide funding for the project.

Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the French prime minister, earlier this month appointed Pierre Lelouche, a deputy, as a special envoy to help promote France's position around the EU.