Joint News Release
MAJOR PROGRESS IN ITER NEGOTIATIONS
Site Offers from European Union, Japan join Canada’sCadarache, France – June 6, 2002. Delegations from Canada, the EuropeanUnion (EU), Japan and the Russian Federation made significant progress towards
the preparation of an agreement for the joint implementation of the ITER project attheir Negotiations meeting hosted by the EU in Cadarache this week. ITER is oneof the world’s largest international collaborative scientific and technologicalprojects, with the goal of taking the next major step in the development of fusion as
an attractive energy source for our planet. The meeting was the fourth in a series
that is expected to lead to an international agreement on the joint implementationof ITER.
The negotiators were welcomed by Dr Achilleas Mitsos, Director General for
Research, European Commission, by Dr. Pascal Colombani, Administrateur
Général du Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, and by Dr. René Pellat, HighCommissionner for Atomic Energy.
Notable events at this fourth Negotiations meeting were the submission ofproposals to host the project by the European Union – at sites in Cadarache,France and Vandellos, Spain - and by Japan at Rokkasho-mura in the Aomori
Prefecture. These new site offers join a proposal to host by Canada, presented inMoscow on June 7, 2001. With the submission of these offers, the EU and Japan
have also signaled their support to proceed fully with the preparation for theimplementation of the ITER project.
Heads of delegations were unanimous in expressing their optimism at the progress
made.
The transmission by the EU Delegation of the two site offers made by the Spanish
and the French Governments was made possible by the European Council ofMinisters adoption on May 27, 2002, of a proposal to extend the European
Commission’s negotiating mandate on ITER. The Commission was authorized totransmit offers of potential candidates for European Sites proposed by Member
States and to negotiate financing and cost-sharing arrangements in conjunction
with site offers, as well as transitional arrangements. The presentation to thenegotiators of the Cadarache site offer was made by Dr. Jacquinot.

Japan’s decision to offer a site for ITER was agreed on May 31, 2002 by theCabinet based upon the conclusion of the Council for Science and Technology
Policy on the ITER Project which suggested the importance of Japanese hosting ofITER and the principle of cost sharing for the negotiation. The presentation to thenegotiators of the Rokkasho-mura site offer was made by the member of theJapanese Delegation from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology.
The Canadian delegation welcomed the new site proposals and the extended
negotiating mandates from the European Union and Japan, and expressed theirsupport for now proceeding with the joint assessment of the sites.
The Russian Federation Delegation stated that the work related to ITER isconsidered to be of high priority and is conducted in accordance to the federalprogramme of 2002-2005 that is aimed to the preparation of the construction ofITER. This work is conducted in close relation with the Russian industry. The RFDelegation also welcomed the site offers.
At this fourth meeting of the Negotiators, the Delegations also furthered theirdiscussions on the Joint Implementation Agreement to initiate the construction ofITER, and a number of other related technical issues such as the site assessment
process, approaches to the cost sharing and procurement allocation, and theorganizational structure of the eventual international organization for ITER.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Delegations agreed that the site offers andnegotiating mandates of the EU and Japan represent substantial progress on
issues critical to the successful implementation of the ITER project.
The next meeting of the Negotiators will be held in Toronto, Canada on September
17-18, 2002.
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+ 33-44-225-4859, 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.ru

BACKGROUNDER
ITER, which means “the way” in Latin, is an international fusion energy research anddevelopment project with the goal of taking the next major step in the development offusion energy as a safe, clean and sustainable energy source for our planet.
Fusion is the energy that powers the sun and the stars. Research into fusion has been
conducted since the 1920’s, and recent advances have renewed interest in thetechnology. 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 to the space station and would be constructed for approximately $4B US over
10 years and operated for about the same amount over 20 years.
The international ITER organization was launched in 1985 by Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald
Reagan and other world leaders. The design of ITER required an investment of $1.5 B
US and was completed in 2001. Negotiations began in November 2001 towards theimplementation 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 tohost 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 including one atCadarache, France and one at Spain at Vandellos, and one site from Japan at
Rokkasho-mura in Aomori Prefecture.
Upcoming Negotiations Meetings are planned for Toronto, Canada, September 17-18,Aomori, Japan October 29-30 and Barcelona ,Spain December 10-11.
For more information, contact the preceding list and visit the ITER-related websites:www.efda.org- www.iter.org- www.itercanada.com
www.jaeri.go.jp- www.fusion.ciemat.es
www.drfc.cea.fr