Joint News Release
ITER NEGOTIATORS MEET IN SPAIN
Assessment completed for three of four potential sites, growinginternational interest in participating
Barcelona, Spain, December 10, 2002 – At their Seventh Negotiations Meeting, delegations
from Canada, the European Union, Japan and the Russian Federation continued their work towards
the implementation of the ITER international fusion energy research project. The Meeting inBarcelona, Spain, saw progress on a number of fronts including the drafting of the Agreement toimplement the project, the process for site selection, and the organization, management and staffingof the international body that would implement ITER.
Mr. Josep Piqué, Minister of Science and Technology of the Spanish Government and Mr. Antoni
Gurgui, General Director of Industry of the Catalan Government, welcomed the delegates. In hisopening remarks, Minister Piqué referred to Spain’s recognition of the impressive scientific andtechnological challenge that ITER represents and how close the ITER participants are to making thedream of fusion energy come true. Minister Piqué emphasized the unconditional support of theSpanish Government and regional and local authorities for the proposal of Vandellòs as a Europeansite for hosting ITER.
Canada advised the Negotiations Meeting that the current Canadian offer, which was the first firm
proposal made by any government, was put forward in a context that has now changed. TheCanadian Government indicated that in light of the competing proposals made by the European
Union and Japan, it is reviewing its current offer with a view to indicating a revised position early in
2003.
The Japanese delegation reported that discussions both on the basic approaches to the safety
management of ITER and on the safety regulations for hosting ITER in Japan are continuing inMEXT. An interim report is to be issued by the end of this year.
The Joint Assessment of Specific Sites (JASS) is nearing completion following last week’s
assessment of the European site at Cadarache, France. This followed the assessments inSeptember, 2002 of the proposed Canadian site at Clarington, and in October, 2002 of the Japanesesite at Rokkasho-mura. The last site assessment will occur later this week at the proposed Europeanlocation at Vandellòs, Spain. The final report on the JASS is to be presented to the Negotiators at theupcoming February Negotiations Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia. The participants are now
beginning to develop scenarios for each of the four different site options for ITER.

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The final report of the Project Board on the Coordinated Technical Activities for ITER was presented.
The program’s significant accomplishments were noted and the delegations thanked the Chairmanof the Board Academician Evgeny Velikhov for his leadership and for the important role he played in
the development of ITER. The ITER Transitional Arrangements put in place by the Participants will
ensure technical and engineering continuity until the ITER International Fusion Energy Organization
is established,

The delegations received expressions of interest from the People’s Republic of China and theRepublic of Korea in the ITER project and discussions are underway with both countries regarding
the possible steps to join the ITER Negotiations process.
The delegates were informed by the International Team Leader that a United States mission had
visited the International Team in Garching in order to discuss and assess costing issues on ITER inrelation to a possible US reentry into ITER. The mission’s report confirmed the soundness of theITER cost estimates.
Further meetings are planned for the Negotiators and technical experts over the next few months.
They are intended to finalize, by mid-2003, the drafting of the Agreement to implement ITER.
At the conclusion of this seventh Negotiations Meeting, the delegations welcomed the growinginternational interest in ITER and the support it demonstrates for proceeding with the development offusion as a future energy source.
The eighth Negotiations Meeting will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia on February 18 - 19, 2003.

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For further information, contact:
CanadaMinistry of Natural Resources Canada
Jim Campbell+1 (613) 996-2663, jicampbe@nrcan.gc.ca

Laura Ferguson, Iter Canada+1 (416) 203-9409, laura@itercanada.com

European Commission
Jean-Pierre Rager+32 (2) 295-3085, jean-pierre.rager@cec.eu.int
French Site Information
Jean Jacquinot+ 33-44-225-7001, jean.jacquinot@cea.fr
Spanish Site Information
Carlos Alejaldre+ 34-91-346-6153, carlos.alejaldre@ciemat.esJapan
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Office of Fusion Energy
Satoru Ohtake+81 (3) 5253-4111 ext. 7820, ohtake@mext.go.jp
Russian Federation
Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy
Yury Sokolov+7 (095) 239-2455, sokolov@minatom.net

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BACKGROUNDER
ITER, which means “the way” in Latin, is an international fusion energy research and development
project with the goal of taking the next major step in the development of fusion energy as a safe, cleanand sustainable energy source for our planet. The ITER International Fusion Energy Organization isthe entity that will implement ITER.
Fusion is the energy that powers the sun and the stars. Research into fusion has been conductedsince the 1950’s, and recent advances have intensified interest in the technology. It is inherently safe
and clean - any change in the process will result in an immediate shutdown and no fuel waste or
greenhouse emissions are produced.
ITER would be the world’s largest international cooperative research and development project next tothe space station and would be constructed for approximately $4 B US over 10 years and operated forabout the same amount over 20 years.
The international ITER co-operation was launched in 1987. The design of ITER and building of key
prototype components was completed in 2001. Negotiations began in November 2001 towards thejoint implementation of the project – where it will be built, how the costs and procurement
responsibilities will be shared, and how it will be managed and operated. Current ITER participants are
Canada, the European Union, Japan and the Russian Federation.
Four offers to host ITER have been submitted. The first was from Canada with an offer to host ITER at
its Clarington site near Toronto, submitted on June 7, 2001. On June 5, 2002 three additional site
offers were submitted, two from the European Union, one at Cadarache, France and one at Vandellòs,Spain, and one site from Japan at Rokkasho-mura in Aomori Prefecture. Under the framework of theNegotiations, a group of international experts is conducting the Joint Assessment of Specific Sites.
The upcoming Negotiations Meeting is planned for St. Petersburg, Russia February 18 - 19, 2003.
For more information, contact the preceding list and visit the ITER-related websites:-

www.iter.org-

www.itercanada.com-

http://www-fusion.ciemat.es/fusion/iter/ITER-eng.html-

http://www-fusion-magnetique.cea.fr/-

www.efda.org-

www.jaeri.go.jp-

http://www.pref.aomori.jp/iter/index.html-

www.iterru.ru-

www.mext.go.jp

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