FPN06-77

ITER Agreement Signed

November 21, 2006

On November 21, Ministers from the seven Parties of the international nuclear fusion project ITER (China, European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States of America) came together to sign the agreement to establish the international organization that will implement the ITER fusion energy project.

The signature ceremony took place at the Elysée Palace in Paris and was hosted by the President of the French Republic M. Jacques Chirac and by the President of the European Commission, M. José Manuel Durão Barroso. The signed documents were formally handed over to the representative of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to be deposited with the Director General of the IAEA.

The Ministers who signed the agreement were: Vladimir Travin (Atomic Energy Agency, Russian Federation), Kim Woo Sik (Ministry of Science and Technology, Korea), Takeshi Iwaya (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan), Xu Guanhua (Ministry of Science and Technology, China), Anil Kakodhar (Department of Atomic Energy, India) Raymond Orbach (US Department of Energy), and Janez Potocnik (European Commission).

The signing was immediately followed by a first meeting of the Interim ITER Council.

The speeches delivered during the ceremony will be published on the ITER website (http://www.iter.org) as well as minutes of the Interim ITER Council meeting.

ITER will be the world's largest experimental facility to demonstrate the scientific and technical aspects of fusion power. The construction costs of ITER are estimated at 5 billion Euros over ten years, most of which will be awarded in the form of contracts to industrial companies and fusion research institutions. Europe will contribute roughly half of the costs of construction, while the other six parties to this joint international venture (Japan, China, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, India, and the USA), will contribute equally to the rest.

In June 2005, the ITER partners decided unanimously to choose the European site at Cadarache, in the South of France, as the location for the construction of ITER.

The ITER Organization will be established as an international organization by the ITER Agreement. The ITER Agreement sets out all the necessary provisions for the ITER Organization to become operational, such as its purpose and functions, its members, its legal personality, its Council, Director-General and staff, its resources, etc.

Upon its entering into force, the ITER Agreement will have a duration initially of 35 years with the possibility of extension for up to 10 years.

Further information is available at: http://www.iter.org and http://fire.pppl.org