ITER: An opportunity for Europe

Speakers: Yasuo Shimomura, ITER Interim Project Leader, and Henrik Bindslev, RisØ National Laboratory.

Also on the panel: Enric Banda, Secretary General ESF; Marcel Gaube, Member of the EFET Board; Carlos Varandas, Chairman EFDA Steering Committee.

In the last few years, the international fusion community has co-operated intensively in preparing the next step on the path to a fusion power plant, the ITER project (“iter” = the way in Latin). ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is now ready to be constructed; the European Union, Japan, Russia, U.S.A., China and South Korea are partners in the project. Four candidate sites have been proposed, two of them in Europe (France and Spain – See “A European Site for ITER ?” (Letter from the Publisher) “, and our Delegation Visits to Cadarache and Vandellós).

On the 26/11/2003 the Council of Ministers chose Cadarache as its candidate site. Following the last meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council, the Presidency has underlined the importance of building ITER in Europe. Site selection and the decision to go ahead are expected at the end of this year, or the beginning of the next.

ITER is a tremendous opportunity for Europe!

The two short introductions on the status of the project (Y. Shimomura) and on the European accompanying programme (H. Bindslev) were intended to inform the members of the European Parliament and other guests and open avenues for the debate.