December 11, 1996

The 1996 Fusion Evaluation Board, established by the European Commission (EC) and chaired by Sergio Barabaschi of the Ansaldo Company, Italy, has completed its report. The Board had a broad charter and was commissioned as part of the preparation of the next EC 5-year budget planning cycle.

The Board recommended that Europe should put in a bid to provide a site for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). (Previously the science ministers of France and Germany had said they would not recommend proposals be made to site ITER in their countries; subsequently Italy indicated that they might be receptive to making a bid.) "ITER should be built in Europe," the Board said, "as this would maintain Europe's position as world leader in fusion and would be of great advantage to European industry and laboratories." The Board said that Europe's excellent track record in operating the Joint European Torus (JET) in Culham, England, gives Europe an advantage over proposals to site ITER in Japan or Canada. If ITER is built elsewhere, the Board said, Europe should nevertheless "maintain a strong participation in ITER as the first priority of (its) fusion programme." They said they were "impressed" with progress since 1990 (the time of the last review) and "in particular through the integrated design work performed for ITER." They said that ITER had provided a "focusing role" for European fusion work and recommended that such a role continue. In preparation for ITER participation, the Board recommended that particular attention be paid to the "organization of system engineering and to the consequent optimization of industrial participation."

They recommended that participation in ITER be complemented with other research, particularly mentioning neutron irradiation of materials and research on stellarators. They urged that there be increased research on the safety, environmental and sociological impact of fusion as an energy source. "A successful fusion programme must lead to an energy source which is both economically and socially acceptable," the Board noted. They said that if ITER does not go ahead as an international project, it is unlikely that Europe could afford to go it alone. In that case, Europe would have to rethink its fusion strategy, the Board said.

The Board recommended that Europe's activities in inertial confinement fusion be maintained at about the present level of 2% of the fusion budget. Inertial fusion advocates had hoped to increase the fraction to about 10%. The Board did recommend increased coordination of the European inertial fusion effort.

The recommendations of the Board must eventually be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, as part of the 5-year budget approval process. More resistance to the fusion budget is expected this year than in past years. As in the U.S., activists for more research on renewable energy sources have lobbied against fusion, using the cost of ITER as one element of their argument.

For more information, contact: Stephen O. Dean