Busquin blasts US counterpart

By Karen Carstens

Date: 15/01/04

US ENERGY Secretary Spencer Abraham's support for a Japanese rather than a French site to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has seriously irked Philippe Busquin.

The research commissioner said his US counterpart should have remained silent over the €10 billion nuclear fusion project. ITER's partners - the EU, US, Russia, Canada, Japan and China - are supposed to be "reflecting" after failing to agree in Washington last December on whether the site should be located in Cadareche, France, or Rokkasho, Japan.

"The idea is to have a broader discussion at global level," Busquin told European Voice yesterday (14 January), adding that the US had jumped on the ITER bandwagon late in the game. "Those most involved in the process have been Russia, Japan and Europe."

Abraham had gone against the consensus reached in Washington, "where we decided to examine all the outstanding questions", including key logistical details such as transport infrastructure and weather patterns, Busquin added.

"Normally, the decision must be taken based on objective facts, not a political declaration - this is unfair."

The next round of talks are due to take place later this month, with a decision not expected before the end of February. The US rejoined talks to develop fusion in February 2003 after a five-year hiatus.

Philippe Busquin, European Commissioner for Research, is furious that US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has openly expressed support for a Japanese rather than a French site for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). ITER's partners failed to agree in December 2003 whether the nuclear fusion project should be located in France or Japan.

• Primary Source

http://www.iter.org/ http://www.iter.org/

---