Joint News Release
CHINA AND THE U.S. JOIN ITER NEGOTIATIONS
Site assessment shows all four potential locations meet ITER criteria
St. Petersburg, Russia, February 19, 2003 –An historic milestone was achieved atthe Eighth ITER Negotiations Meeting, when delegations from the People’s Republic ofChina and the United States of America joined those from Canada, the European
Union, Japan and the Russian Federation in their efforts to reach agreement on theimplementation of the ITER international fusion energy research project. St.
Petersburg, Russia, celebrating its 300th anniversary this year, was the site of theMeeting. Mr. Igor Borovkov, First Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation on AtomicEnergy, welcomed all the delegates, noting the significance of the addition of China andthe United States to the Negotiations.
In their opening statements, the Heads of Delegation of both China and the UnitedStates declared their countries’ commitment to developing fusion energy as a potential
source of safe, secure and environmentally friendly energy. Delegations fully endorsedand welcomed the entry of China and the United States to the Negotiations noting thesignificant domestic fusion programmes of both.
The Head of the Chinese Delegation indicated that China, as the largest developing
country in the world, has a great need to pursue alternative energy sources. China
believes that ITER can potentially lead to new forms of energy and contribute to thepeaceful and sustainable development of the world in the long-term. China expressed
its strong wishes to be a valuable member of the ITER family, to make joint efforts withother partners to the successful exploitation of fusion energy.
The United States Head of Delegation noted that President Bush announced on
January 30, 2003 that the United States would join ITER. In his statement, thePresident said: “The results of ITER will advance the effort to produce clean, safe,renewable, and commercially-available fusion energy by the middle of this century.” The
US remarked on the extensive reviews undertaken by their scientific and technicalcommunities in arriving at the conclusion to join the ITER Negotiations.
To express support of the community for the Canadian host site, the Canadian
Delegation included John Mutton, the Mayor of the Municipality of Clarington and Roger
Anderson, Chair of the Region of Durham. Mayor Mutton emphasized the excellent
technical and socio-cultural characteristics of the Canadian site and the enthusiasm of
the local community to host ITER.
The EU Delegation informed that France has confirmed at the level of Prime Minister
Raffarin its offer of hosting ITER in Cadarache as the European site, taking advantageof the well-known scientific, technical and socio-economic environment. The local
authorities have expressed, in partnership with the government, their strong
commitment on financial, educational, cultural and all other aspects to provide the best
working and living conditions. The EU Delegation also informed that the Spanish
Secretary of State for Science and Technology, Mr. Morenès headed an official
delegation to meet with Commissioner Busquin to personally re-iterate the firm
commitment of all layers of Spanish government and society to the success of ITER in1/4

Vandellos. Announcement was also made of the important step of starting the official
licensing procedure for ITER in Spain two months in advance of the previously
presented schedule.
The Head of Japanese Delegation reported that Prime Minister Koizumi visited Russia
on 10th and 11th January and he referred to the importance of ITER both in the Summit
meeting with President Putin and in his speech at the Kurchatov Institute. Also, Mr.
Kimura, Governor of Aomori Prefecture, attending the meeting, promised to establish
an international school and stressed on the recent and future improvement of public
transportation, including an extension of a bullet train line and planned direct flightsfrom Narita to Aomori.
The Negotiators approved the Report on the Joint Assessment of Specific Sites. It wascompleted within the framework of the Negotiations following detailed reviews and visits
to all four potential locations: Clarington in Canada; Cadarache in France; Vandellos inSpain; and, Rokkasho-mura in Japan. The Report confirms that all four sites meet thecriteria established for the location of the ITER project, although there are different
strengths and weaknesses for each site. The Report can be found on the ITER
Website (www.iter.org/jass).
Delegations discussed the possible approach to decision making and agreed to step
forward by concentrating on the essential elements for decision making enthusiastically,in order to conclude the agreement and to start constructing ITER as soon as possible.
The addition of the new Participants will be of great benefit to the project, enhancing
the prospects for its early success in developing fusion as a future energy source. The
entry of the new Participants has increased the momentum, and this will result in theacceleration of the decision-making process.
The Ninth Negotiations Meeting will be held on 20-21 May 2003, in Vienna, hosted by
the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

2/4

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.es
Japan
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
Office of Fusion Energy
Satoru Ohtake+81 (3) 5253-4111 ext. 7820, ohtake@mext.go.jp
The People’s Republic of China
Ministry of Science and Technology of China
Department of International Co-operation
Luo Delongluodl@mail.most.gov.cn
Russian Federation
Ministry of the Russian Federation for Atomic Energy
Yury Sokolov+7 (095) 239-2455, sokolov@minatom.net
United States
Department of Energy
Office of Fusion Energy Sciences
Michael Roberts+1 301 903 3068, michael.roberts@science.doe.gov

3/4

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 of fusionenergy as a safe, clean and sustainable energy source for our planet. The ITER InternationalFusion Energy Organization is the entity that will implement ITER.

Fusion is the energy that powers the sun and the stars.

Research into fusion has been

conducted since 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 andno fuel waste or greenhouse emissions are produced.
ITER would be the world’s largest international cooperative research and development projectnext to the space station and would be constructed over 10 years and operated over 20 years.

The international ITER co-operation was launched in 1987. The design of ITER and building ofkey prototype components was completed in 2001. Negotiations began in November 2001
towards the joint implementation of the project – where it will be built, how the costs andprocurement responsibilities will be shared, and how it will be managed and operated. Current
ITER participants are Canada, the European Union, Japan, the People’s Republic of China, theRussian Federation and the United States of America.

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 the Negotiations, a group of international experts conducted the Joint
Assessment of Specific Sites.

The upcoming Negotiations Meeting is planned for xxx, yyy 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.itercad.org-

www.jaeri.go.jp-

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

www.iterru.ru-

www.mext.go.jp-

http://www.ofes.fusion.doe.gov/iter.html (link given on the Abraham news release)

Chinese link

4/4