FPN03-25

EU Summarizes ITER Status

May 13, 2003

A formal communication dated 30 April 2003 from the European Commission to its parent body, the European Council, "summarizes the state of negotiations conducted by the Commission on behalf of the European Union concerning the ITER nuclear fusion energy research project." The report states "this communication presents among other things the fundamental questions of choice of site and cost sharing between the parties." The report says the negotiations "reached a significant point in February 2003 with the accession of the People's Republic of China and the United States of America." It says, however, "It is anticipated that the bases and principles established in the course of previous negotiations will not be called into question by the American and Chinese new arrivals, that the level of participation of each will be limited but significant and that they will not propose new sites for ITER."

The report notes "the total cost of the construction phase is estimated at 4.57 billion Euros, at 2000 values." It says "ITER implementation will include a construction phase lasting about ten years, an operation phase lasting about 20 years and a decommissioning phase." It estimates the total cost of all three phases at 10.3 billion Euros.

The report says that in negotiations so far "Agreement has been reached on the legal status of the entity which would be responsible for ITER implementation. However, fundamental points have still to be discussed, such as choice of site, sharing between the parties of the costs of and responsibilities for supplying components for the project and their management. This contribution 'in kind' will form the main part of the overall contribution of each party during the construction phase." The legal entity responsible for ITER implementation "would have a duration of thirty-five years with the possibility of an extension of a maximum of ten years," according to the report. "It would have legal existence and would be granted privileges and immunities by the parties and the host country which are similar to those normally granted to international organisations." The report says "A Director-General and a project team will be responsible for the proper day-to-day running of the Organisation." It says, "Given the scale and complexity of the project, it has also been accepted that each party should have only one clearly identified interface with the Organisation, managing its contribution both in cash and in kind."

The report proposes that management of the European contribution be the responsibility of a new "Joint Undertaking," the members of which would be Euratom and "the usual partners in the Community fusion programme." It says "The tasks of this undertaking would be, as a contract agent, to collect, manage and supply to the international organisation contributions in cash and in kind from the members of the joint undertaking."

The report notes that presently four sites have been proferred: Canada, Japan, France and Spain. However, the report says, "it is appropriate now to converge towards the identification of (one) EU site candidate through a consensual and well regulated process." The report says "Recognising the political sensitivity of the subject, the Commission urges France and Spain to pursue actively and constructively their bilateral discussions" on selecting a single EU candidate site. The report says it envisages a Council decision on a European site in September 2003.

The report notes that, prior to the entry of China and the U.S., a working assumption within the EU on cost sharing was the host country would pick up about 20% of ITER costs for local construction elements (called "non-common area" costs), with the remaining, primarily machine, costs (called "common area" costs) shared by Russia (14%), EU (33%) and Japan (33%). The report notes that several factors have led to a rethinking of this formula, namely the expectation that Russia would pay a smaller fraction, that the U.S. and China and perhaps others would pick up a substantial fraction, and a proposal from Japan stating that, as a smaller economic party compared to Europe, they wished to pay a smaller fraction than the EU. The EU paper notes that the Canadian site proposal is being restructured within Canada, since it originally did not envisage any Canadian contribution to the common area costs. The paper proposes a new working distribution of the 80% common area costs as China + Russia + USA (more than 30%) and EU + Japan (less than 50%).

The report brings up the issue of international funding for an International Fusion Materials Irradiation (IFMIF) facility that could begin construction around 2009-2010 as a way to accelerate the development of fusion power plants, following ITER. It says that if ITER is built in Europe, then it is unlikely that IFMIF would be in Europe, in which case they estimate the European contribution to IFMIF to be around 15-20 million Euro per year over ten years. Such a fusion development plan (called "fast track") "would naturally require additional funds for the research programmes that will follow (the current funding plan) even if savings could be achieved through wider international cooperation on materials research...."

The report concludes: "The Commission hereby notifies (the Council and the European Parliament) of its intention to submit by the end of 2003 two proposals for decisions, one concerning the international agreement on ITER implementation and the other the structure of the joint undertaking which will be responsible for the European contributions to this project."

The full report is posted at http://fire.pppl.gov