ITER CTA NEWSLETTER
No. 9, JUNE 2002

INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, VIENNA, AUSTRIAISSN 1683–0555

FOURTH ITER NEGOTIATIONS MEETING
Site offers from European Union and Japan join Canada'sby Dr. J.-P. Rager, European Commission
The 11th Century Château de Cadarache, adjoining the Cadarache research centre of the Commissariat àl'Energie Atomique (CEA) in the south of France, was the venue for the fourth ITER Negotiations Meeting,which took place on 4 - 6 June 2002. The European Union hosted the meeting, which was also attended bydelegations from Canada, Japan and the Russian Federation.
The Delegations were welcomed by Dr. Achilleas Mitsos, Director General for Research of the European
Commission, Dr. Pascal Colombani, Administrator General of the CEA, and Dr. René Pellat, the French HighCommissioner for Atomic Energy. In an introductory session, Prof. David King, Principal Scientific Advisor tothe UK Government, addressed the delegates, commenting in particular on the place of ITER in a "fast track"approach to fusion power.

Participants in the Meeting1

In the Delegations' opening comments:·The RF Delegation confirmed the high priority accorded under the federal programme of 2002-2005 towork on ITER, which is undertaken in close collaboration with industry, to prepare for ITERconstruction.

·The EU Delegation reported on the adoption of the sixth research Framework Programme on 3 Juneand on provisions foreseen for fusion in the Euratom Programme. The Delegation also reported that itwas now authorized to transmit offers of potential candidates for European sites proposed by Member
States and to negotiate financing and cost-sharing schemes as well as transitional arrangements; it
was consequently transmitting to the other Participants offers of potential candidate sites for ITER at
Vandellos in Spain and Cadarache in France.

·The JA Delegation announced a decision by its Cabinet on 31 May 2002 to offer a site for ITER at
Rokkasho-mura in Aomori, in the northern part of Honshu Island. This decision followed the conclusionof the Council for Science and Technology Policy on the ITER Project, which had suggested theimportance of Japanese hosting of ITER and the principle of cost sharing reflecting respective
economic strength.

·The CA Delegation welcomed the new site offers and the extended negotiating mandates announcedby the EU and JA, and looked forward to starting the process of joint assessment of the three new
proposals as well as the existing CA offer. The Delegation reported on discussions of fusion and ITER
that had taken place on the occasion of the recent G-8 meeting of Energy Ministers, including a policy
speech by the US Secretary for Energy, Spencer Abraham, and referred to the importance of engaging
large electricity utilities in the development of fusion as an energy source.

Experts from the respective Parties gavesummary presentations on each of the newoffers. The Negotiators then acknowledged thethree new proposals, to be added to the site offer
made by Canada in June 2001, and instructed
their standing Sub-Group to organize and initiate
the process of joint assessment of specific site
offers on the basis of an agreed framework ofinformation. The Sub-Group will report on
progress to the next Negotiations meeting.
The negotiators also discussed the developmentof Transitional Arrangements that are agreed asnecessary, in particular to keep joint international
activity going so as to maintain the single design
authority. The Negotiators supported a proposal
to initiate the arrangements under IAEA auspices
within the framework of an exchange of letters,
following the approach used to establish thecurrent ITER Co-ordinated Technical Activities.
In light of the new developments, the negotiators
recognized the need to consider holding a small
number of additional meetings during the courseof 2003.
At the Introductory session. From left: Prof. King,Dr. Mitsos and Dr. Colombani

23

Vandellos

Cadarache
41˚ N Lat.

Rokkasho

FOUR CANDIDATE SITES FOR ITER

Clarington

Other matters discussed at the meeting included:·issues relating to the management of the ITER Legal Entity, including staffing and the approach toprocurement,·

qualitative information on potential Parties' preferences for contributions to ITER according to various
siting scenarios,·a third draft of the agreement on joint implementation of ITER and input on its related instruments.

Meeting in Session

The Negotiators charged their Sub-Group to organize and initiate, at its next meeting, the joint site
assessment process, with the setting up of an expert group.
Heads of delegations were unanimous in expressing their optimism at the progress made.
The next Meeting of the Negotiators is scheduled for 17th-18th September in Toronto. Further Negotiations
meetings in 2002 are scheduled in October (Aomori, Japan) and in December (Barcelona, Spain).

4

MEETING OF THE ITER CTA PROJECT BOARD AT CADARACHEby Dr. V. Vlasenkov, Project Board Secretary
The meeting of the ITER CTA Project Board took place on the occasion of the Negotiations Meeting (N-4) andit was held at Cadarache, France on 3 - 4 June 2002. All the Project Board Members (except for the CanadianTeam Leader) and experts from Canada, the European Union, Japan, the Russian Federation and theInternational Team (IT) attended the meeting chaired by Academician E. Velikhov.
The Japanese Participants Team (PT) informed the Project Board that the Japanese Government has cometo the conclusion that Japan will participate in the ITER project and will propose to the ITER Negotiators its
candidate site, Rokkasho in Aomori prefecture. The current status of the preferred procurement allocation has
been presented by the JAPT to the Japanese industry. The JA members for TBWG were selected andnominated.
The Canadian PT is continuing its site specific activities and is forming a team for the Joint Assessment ofSpecific Sites (JASS) process. It has also undertaken additional parametric studies on the tritium fuel cycle
to support the IT.
The European Union PT reported that work is continuing on R&D, licensing support and site specific activities,
as well as on specifications for high priority items.
The Russian PT reported the ongoing work on ITER project according to the National Fusion Programme.
Minatom, together with a private company, has put efforts into increasing the production of thesuperconductor.

Participants in the Meeting5

Finally, the IT reported its activities on the Work Programme focusing on the following major items:·preparation of the configuration control tools needed for the construction phase;·development of specifications for high priority items (Vacuum Vessel, Magnet, Building and facilities)
and improvement of the ITER design, including Vacuum Vessel support structure, Vacuum VesselDivertor interface, cooling pipes, in-vessel diagnostics engineering, magnet safety analysis, etc.

The IT Leader once again stressed the issue of the limited availability of the Russian and Japanese experts
for ITER technical meetings and the still outstanding problem of coverage of RF IT members' travelling
expenses.
The Project Board took note of the Negotiators Special Sub-Group's third meeting (NSSG-3) document, on
the Parties' Preference of Contribution in Case of the Three Sites (CA, EU, JA). It also recognized thenecessity to elaborate further technical guidelines and suggestions with regards to the procurement systemof contributions in kind and in cash so as to verify the technical understanding of the procurement allocation.
The IT Leader was requested to develop preliminary guidelines in a document to be issued before the next
NSSG meeting.
The Project Board stressed the need for a comprehensive technical basis for procurement allocation inconjunction with a full appreciation of the ITER procurement system, and suggested that the Negotiators setup an ad hoc group to consider these matters in sufficient detail.
The next Project Board meeting is scheduled to be held in conjunction with the Negotiations Meeting N-5
Meeting in Toronto in September 2002.

Printed by the IAEA in Austria
July 2002

02-01468

Items to be considered for inclusion in the ITER CTA Newsletter should be submitted to B. Kuvshinnikov, ITER Office, IAEA,Wagramer Strasse 5, P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria, or Facsimile: +43 1 2633832, or e-mail: c.basaldella@iaea.org(phone +43 1 260026392).