COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EX-ANTE EVALUATION Accompanying the document Proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 2007/198/Euratom establishing the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy and conferring advantages upon it
Date: 2018-06-07
Institutions: Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission
Subjects: EAEC, EU financing, European Joint Undertaking, nuclear fusion, nuclear reactor, nuclear research

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 7.6.2018  SWD(2018) 326 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE EX-ANTE EVALUATION Accompanying the document Proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 2007/198/Euratom establishing the European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy and conferring advantages upon it {COM(2018) 445 final} - {SWD(2018) 325 final}  
 
 
ITER is an international scientific collaboration project between seven global partners (ITER 
Parties  -  EU,  United  States,  Russia,  Japan,  China,  South  Korea,  and  India).  The  project, 
implemented  on  the  basis  of  the  ITER  Agreement  aims  at  demonstrating  the  scientific  and 
technological feasibility of fusion energy for peaceful purposes, an essential feature of which 
would be achieving sustained fusion power generation.  

The  ITER  Parties  launched  in  2015  a  major  overhaul  of  the  project  which  included  the 
appointment of a new senior management in the ITER Organization (IO) and the preparation 
of  a  new  baseline.  This  baseline  approved  ad  referendum  in  November  2016,  achieved  a 
stabilization  of  the  project  and  provides  a  realistic  basis  for  its  completion.  Changes  in  the 
management  and  organization  of  Fusion  for  Energy  (F4E),  that  acts  as  EU’s  Domestic 
Agency delivering the European contribution to IO, took place in parallel to those in IO and 
entailed the change of the Director (in early 2016)  and the majority  of  the top  management 
and  its  organization  (in  2016  and  2017).  ITER  as  an  investment  offers  European  high-tech 
industries and SMEs a valuable opportunity to innovate and develop “spin off” products for 
exploitation outside fusion. A positive appreciation of ITER's progress in recent years and of 
its turnaround by the new management were confirmed by independent assessments providing 
confidence that IO and F4E are working together towards the success of the project and are 
better armed to manage any future project challenges. 

The key challenges for the next MFF will be to sustain the positive momentum in the project, 
ensure a steady progress of the construction and assembly, and retain the commitment of all 
ITER  Parties.  Meeting  these  challenges  will  require  sustained  EU  leadership  in  the  project 
which needs to be underpinned by excellent performance of F4E and full compliance of the 
EU  with  its  share  of  funding  obligations  and  in-kind  contributions  (i.e.  components  under 
European responsibility, procured and delivered by F4E). 

The resources needed by Euratom to enable the successful completion of the facility and the 
start of the operation/experimental phase are detailed in the Commission Communication on 
"the EU Contribution to a Reformed ITER Project" adopted by the Commission in June 2017. 
The  critical  mass  of  funding  needed  to  make  the  ITER-related  EU  action  work  effectively 
corresponds to the new ITER baseline for the construction of ITER. The updated schedule and 
associated  cost  estimates  present  the  earliest  technically  achievable  date  for  the  ITER 
construction  without  any  contingencies  and  therefore  assumes  that  all  major  risks  can  be 
mitigated.  

ITER is a unique, long-term project which cannot be executed through industry initiative at 
this stage of the technology development. Accordingly, public intervention is warranted. As 
ITER's legal basis is  an international agreement to  which Euratom is  a Party,  action at  EU 
level is more effective (less fragmentation) and efficient (better value for money/economies of 
scale),  for  meeting  Euratom's  obligations.  This  is  recognized  explicitly  in  the  recent 
Reflection Paper on the Future of EU Finance. Indeed, pooling of resources and expertise is 
paramount  to  the  construction  of  ITER  and  EU  action  is  particularly  needed  to  achieve  the 
critical  mass  of  resources  and  knowledge  across  different  fields,  technologies,  and  research 
infrastructures and industries required for the construction of this first of a kind project.  

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