FPN06-44

ITER Parties Initial Agreement

May 24, 2006

On May 24, in Brussels, representatives of the seven ITER Parties (European Union, Russia, Japan, China, India, South Korea and the United States) initialed an agreement to construct the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), billed as "the world's largest international scientific partnership." The ITER fusion experimental reactor, a final stepping stone enroute to a fusion power plant, is to be built in Caderache, France.

The agreement must now be adopted formally by the various governments, a process the Parties' representatives said they hoped will be completed by the end of 2006 so that "actual construction can start in 2007."

Additional informationn is posted at http://fire.pppl.gov