EU waits for US to back 5bn euro fusion project

Date: 05/09/02

By Jane Davis

THE EU is currently awaiting a decision from the United States' Department of Energy on whether the US will help foot the €5 billion bill for the fast-track approach to nuclear fusion (energy produced through the joining of atoms) favoured by the European Commission.

A fast-track approach to ITER (meaning 'the way' in Latin), the beleaguered international experimental reactor project, could make fusion energy a reality within 20 to 30 years, according to a recent report by a group of European scientific experts led by Professor David King, the UK government's chief scientific advisor.

They say that such an approach will also be more cost-effective in the long run. While it will initially require additional funding, as many activities would be carried out at the same time, the total cost to the taxpayer of the €5 billion project would be significantly lower.

While the original design foresaw the construction of two further devices after ITER, they would be combined under the fast-track approach.

The report proposes that the construction of ITER should start immediately, and suggests the burden of the initial funding be reduced by expanding the project to include additional partners and creating a larger role for industry.

Since its conception by the US, the EU, Japan and Russia in the late 1980s, ITER has been plagued by delays.

First the US withdrew from the project when the full extent of the costs involved became apparent.

Now disagreement between the countries involved as to where ITER should be built is holding up its construction.

Four sites have been proposed, in France, Spain, Canada and Japan.

The French bid, announced at the EU Research Council in October 2001, was not endorsed by ministers, some of whom are under pressure from powerful anti-nuclear lobby groups at home.

Nevertheless, at a meeting in May, the Council extended the Commission's negotiating mandate on ITER, enabling it to transmit offers of potential candidates for European sites and negotiate financial arrangements.

It is hoped that a decision on the location of the reactor will be made before the end of 2002, with Canada and Japan the current favourites.

But Spain feels that it is 'about time' it hosts a European high-technology project, according to Carlos Alejaldre, director of the country's fusion laboratory.

Spain is eager to show that it has become 'the ideal land to develop high-tech European projects in a truly international environment'.

Alejaldre claims that the Spanish site has 'all the ingredients to make ITER a success in Europe and for Europe'.

The US has now indicated an interest in rejoining the consortium following a recent meeting of international scientists who compared the technical merits of ITER with those of two smaller-scale proposals.

While the revised cost of ITER is estimated at around €5 billion, the alternatives are considerably cheaper. The plasma produced by these would however not be of the same quality as that produced by ITER.

When the US walked out on ITER in 1998, its estimated costs were around €10 billion. A less ambitious design is responsible for cutting the bill and reawakening interest from Washington.

Nuclear fusion is supported by some as a sustainable method of producing energy.

However, it also has many opponents, due to the radioactive waste and cancer-causing radioactive tritium the reactor will produce.

The EU is awaiting a decision from the United States' Department of Energy on whether the US will help foot the €5 billion bill for the fast-track approach to nuclear fusion favoured by the European Commission. Article is part of a European Voice survey on energy.