FPN05-29
US Warns EU on ITER Stance
April 7, 2005
On April 7, Dr. Ray Orbach, Director of the US Department of Energy Office
of Science, told a public meeting of his Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory
Committee that, in a meeting earlier in the week, he told a high level
European Union official that the US viewed "unfavorably" reports that the
EU was considering making a unilateral decision to proceed with
construction of ITER in France. Orbach said he told the official that if
the EU were to proceed without an agreement on site from the other 5 ITER
partners (Japan, Russia, China, Korea and the US) the US would consider
that the EU had withdrawn from the ITER collaboration, reducing it from a
6-member to a 5 member partnership. He said the US position remains that
the EU and Japan must resolve the site issue in 2-party negotiations and
bring that resolution to the other 4 partners.
Other US officials, familiar with the discussions, said they believed a
recent meeting between French President Chirac and Japanese Prime Minister
Koizumi had raised the ITER negotiation to a higher political level than
previously and raised the prospects that the site issue could be resolved
soon.
EU Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik is scheduled to meet in Japan with
Japanese Science and Technology Minister Nakayama on April 12. A crucial
meeting of European research ministers is scheduled for April 18 in
Luxembourg. The EU has previously indicated a desire to have the ITER site
question settled by mid-June.