Mr President, the specific programme for research and training on nuclear energy provides EUR 940 million for activities in three priority areas – controlled thermonuclear fusion, management of radioactive waste and radiation protection – as well as other activities in the field of nuclear technology and safety. The bulk of the funds – EUR 750 million – is proposed to be used for nuclear fusion research, with a maximum of EUR 200 million provided for ITER, the Next Step tokamak device. Subject to a positive outcome of the international negotiations, a specific decision is expected in the period 2003-2004, so that construction of ITER could effectively start during the period 2005-2006. This will be a major step towards sustained production of energy from nuclear fusion, which is expected to become an efficient source of energy within a few decades. In view of the limited deposits of fossil fuel, the importance of this development cannot be underestimated. Consequently, the associated research fully deserves the proposed funding. Given the fact that the final decision on ITER has not been taken yet, the flexibility in partitioning funds between ITER and other fusion activities is an important element of the proposal. Other activities within the field of controlled nuclear fusion include the Associations' programme in physics and technology and the exploitation of JET facilities. The Associations' programme includes, among others, studies of magnetic confinement schemes other than the tokamak, in particular the continuation of the construction of the Wendelstein 7-X 'stellarator', research on fusion materials and keeping in touch with civil research activities on inertial confinement and possible alternative concepts. The Joint European Taurus (JET) in Culham, England, has been a highly successful machine and its facilities will continue to be exploited, but will have to be phased out at an appropriate time to enable the corresponding resources to be redirected to ITER. Regardless of the future of nuclear fusion reactors, the problem of radioactive waste – in particular long-lived waste – will be with us for several thousands of years. Consequently, it is only by an increase of the research efforts that we may hope to decrease the dangers emanating from them. The specific programme provides for EUR 90 million to be used for research on geological disposal and the development of concepts to produce less waste. Radiation protection takes up to EUR 50 million. Finally, the chapter of 'other activities' covers the evaluation of innovative concepts and the development of improved and safer nuclear energy processes, education and training in radiation protection, improvement of the safety of existing installations, for a total of EUR 50 million. The Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy welcomes the Commission's proposal and expresses its support for fusion research in general and ITER in particular. A European site for ITER will confirm the worldwide leadership of the European Union in fusion technology, acquired through, among other things, the JET facilities, which should not be abandoned before exhausting its capabilities. A number of amendments proposed by our committee refer to nuclear waste and nuclear safety. Ways of dealing with waste should be not only acceptable to society, but also intrinsically safe. At this point, I should like to point out that there is a mistake in the French translation of Amendment No 4, where the original English text 'both safe and acceptable' has been transmuted into 'both healthy and acceptable'. Could the President ensure that this is corrected? The research on interim disposal, waste characterisation and waste packaging, should be funded, together with research on geological disposal. Research on innovative concepts and techniques that produce less waste should include the high-temperature reactor, light-water reactors, gas-cooled reactors, fast reactor technologies and co-generation. Overall, the adoption of the report by the Committee on Industry will mark an important step towards more efficient and safer nuclear energy.

Political group: GUE-NGL