CELEX: 51987PC0302(01)
Language: en
Date: 1987-07-24
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL REGULATION ADOPTING A RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAMME ( 1987-1991 ) IN THE FIELD OF CONTROLLED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION

N o C 247'12                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                  15.9.87
                                                               II
                                                       (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Regulation adopting a research and training programme (1987 to 1991)
                                       in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion
                                                      COM(87) 302 final
                              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 28 August 1987)
                                                        (87/C 247/02)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                           fusion; whereas Article 3 of that Decision provides that
                                                                   the Commission will, based on a review to be carried out
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European              during the second year of that programme, submit to the
Atomic Energy Community, and in particular Article 7               Council a revision proposal aimed at replacing the 1985
thereof,                                                           to 1989 programme with a new five-year programme in
                                                                    1987 with 1987, 1988 and 1989 constituting years
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission                  common to both programmes; whereas Decision
presented after consultation of the Scientific and                 85/201/Euratom should therefore be replaced;
Technical Committee,
                                                                   Whereas, as a result of Decision 85/201/Euratom being
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                  replaced, approximately 171 million ECU of the sum
liament,                                                           estimated necessary for the preceding programme,
                                                                   exclusive of JET (Joint European Torus), and approx-
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                   imately 209 million ECU of the sum estimated necessary
Social Committee,                                                  for the preceding programme for the JET project will
                                                                   not have been used; whereas these amounts can be
Whereas the energy problem is common to all the                    assigned to the new programme; whereas such
Member States; whereas joint efforts to resolve this               assignment, together with the fact that the programme
problem are likely to produce better results; whereas              embraces all work carried out in the Member States in
thermonuclear fusion is one possible solution to the               this field, must be taken into account in determining the
energy problem in the longer term; whereas the rational            amounts estimated necessary for the execution of the
use of all the different energy sources must be                    new programme;
coordinated; whereas the Community must therefore
continue to ensure optimum consistency in its efforts
between Community activities in the various sectors of             Whereas, in view of the extent of the effort needed to
energy and energy research;                                        reach the stage of applications of controlled thermo-
                                                                   nuclear fusion, which could be of benefit to the
                                                                   Community, the work hitherto undertaken in this field
Whereas the Council has adopted on                       the
                                                                   must continue on a joint basis at its various stages of
framework programme of Community activities in the
                                                                   development;
field of research and technological development (1987 to
1991) which takes into account the foregoing
considerations;                                                    Whereas the research proposed by the Commission
                                                                   constitutes an adequate means of pursuing such action
Whereas thermonuclear fusion is a potential new source             and it is, consequently, in the common interest to adopt
of energy using fuel which is virtually inexhaustible and          a multiannual programme in the field of controlled
universally accessible; whereas magnetic fusion reactors           thermonuclear fusion, the existence of which is,
will have inherent safety features and hold the promise            moreover, necessary to enable the Community to parti-
of a low impact on the environment; thermonuclear                  cipate in international cooperation in this field;
fusion forms therefore an important objective within the
framework programme;                                               Whereas the strategy on which the continuation of the
                                                                   programme is based should remain unchanged, namely:
Whereas, in its Decision 85/201/Euratom ('), the
Council adopted a research and training programme                  — pursuit of a substantial programme oriented towards
(1985 to 1989) in the field of controlled thermonuclear                a demonstration reactor and based at present on the
                                                                       Tokamak concept; completion of the first stage of
O OJ No L 83, 28. 3. 1985, p. 25.                                      the programme formed by the JET project with its
 ---pagebreak--- 15.9.87                                   Official Journal of the European Communities                                   No C 247/3
    extensions and by the full exploitation of the devices              HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
    existing or under construction in the Associations,
— continuation of the predesign of the second step of                                              Article 1
    the Tokamak programme, the Next European Torus                      A European Atomic Energy Community programme of
    (NET) and pursuit of the technological developments                 research and training in the field of controlled thermo-
    necessary to its design and construction and of those               nuclear fusion, as defined in the Annex, is hereby
    needed in the longer term for the fusion reactor;                   adopted for a five-year period commencing 1 January
— investigation, depending on the resources available,                  1987.
    of alternative confinement systems, concentrating on
    reversed field pinches and stellarators, subject to a                                          Article 2
    periodic reassessment of their reactor potential
    compared with that of the Tokamak;                                  The funds estimated as being necessary for the execution
                                                                        of the programme exclusive of JET amount to 533
Whereas this strategy should be reviewed at the next                    million ECU, including expenditure on a work force of
programme revision aimed at replacing the present                       105 staff. The funds estimated as being necessary for
programme by a new five-year programme on the                           JET during the duration of the programme amount to
1 January 1990; at the time of this revision, it would be               378 million ECU including expenditure on a work force
appropriate to decide when to proceed to D-T operation                  of 191 temporary employees within the meaning of
on JET and when to start the detailed design of N E T ;                 Article 2 (a) of the conditions of employment of other
                                                                        servants of the European Communities.
Whereas the research programme of the Joint Research
Centre provides for participation by the JRC in the field
of NET and Technology;                                                                             Article 3
                                                                        During the course of its third year, the Commission shall
Whereas Sweden and Switzerland are associated with                      proceed to the evaluation of the programme having
Community activities in the field of controlled thermo-                 regard to its objectives set out in the Annex. Following
nuclear fusion;                                                         this evaluation, the Commission shall submit to the
                                                                        Council in 1989 a revision proposal designed to replace
Whereas the Community should continue to encourage                      the present programme with a five-year programme with
the construction of certain equipment related to projects               effect from 1 January 1990.
having priority status, the support for JET and N E T by
the Associations and certain developments in the field of
fusion technology, by granting a preferential rate of                                              Article 4
participation in the expenditure on such projects;
                                                                        Decision 85/201/Euratom is hereby repealed with effect
Whereas the direct involvement of industry in the                       from 1 January 1987.
implementation of the programme, in particular with
regard to N E T and fusion technology, must be                                                     Article 5
strengthened;
                                                                        This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 January 1987.
Whereas, furthermore, the mobility of staff between
organizations cooperating in the execution of the                       This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and
programme should be promoted,                                           directly applicable in all Member States.
                                                                ANNEX
                                          CONTROLLED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION
              1. The programme to be executed will cover:
                 (a) plasma physics in the sector concerned, in particular studies of a basic character relating to
                     confinement with suitable devices and to methods for producing and heating plasma;
                 (b) research into the confinement, in closed configurations, of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium plasmas
                     of widely varying density and temperature;
                 (c) research into light-matter interactions and transport phenomena and the development of high-power
                     lasers;
 ---pagebreak--- N o C 247/4                               Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s           1 5 . 9 . 87
               (d) the development and application to confinement devices of sufficiently powerful plasma heating
                   methods;
               (e) improvement of diagnostic methods;
               (f) predesign and possibly commencement of the detailed engineering design of N E T (Next European
                   Torus) and technological developments required for its design and construction as well as those
                   needed in the longer term for the fusion reactor;
               (g) extension of the JET device to full performance; operation and exploitation of JET.
               The work referred to in (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) will be carried out by means of associations or
               limited duration contracts which are designed to yield the results necessary for the implementation of
               the programme and which take into consideration the work carried out by the Joint Research Centre, in
               particular in relation to N E T and technology referred to in (f).
               The implementation of the JET project referred to in (g) has been entrusted to the 'Joint European
               Torus (JET), Joint Undertaking', established by Decision 78/471/Euratom (').
            2. The programme set out in point 1 forms part of a long-term cooperative project embracing all activities
               undertaken in the Member States in the field of controlled magnetic thermonuclear fusion. It is designed
               to lead in due course to the joint construction of prototypes with a view to their industrial production
               and marketing.
            3. The amount of 533 million ECU estimated as being necessary for the execution of the programme
               exclusive of JET is intended to finance:
               (a) priority projects at a uniform rate of approximately 45 % , as specified in paragraph 4;
               (b) running expenditure of the associations at a uniform rate of approximately 25 % ;
               (c) certain industrial contracts in the fields of 'NET/fusion technology' and the development of
                   advanced plasma heating methods at a rate of 100 %, as defined in paragraph 4;
               (d) administration costs and expenditure intended to ensure the mobility of staff to enable them to work
                   in organizations cooperating in the implementation of the programme and in the N E T Team;
               (e) operational costs of the N E T Team at a rate of approximately 75 %.
               Any positive balance from the contributions of associated third countries (Sweden and Switzerland)
               under the programme exclusive of JET, shall be devoted to the financial participation by the
               Community in the expenditure referred to in paragraph 3.
            4. After consulting the Consultative Committee of the Fusion Programme the Commission may finance at
               a uniform rate of about 45 % as specified in paragraph 3 (a) projects belonging to one of the following
               areas:
               (a) Tokamak systems and support for JET;
               (b) other toroidal machines;
               (c) heating and injection;
               (d) N E T and fusion technology.
               If such projects belong to areas (c) and (d) and if they are carried out by Industry the Commission may
               finance them at a rate of 100 % as specified in paragraph 3 (c).
               In return, all Associations shall have the right to take part in the experiments carried out with the
               equipment thus constructed.
            5. The total contributions of the Members of the JET Joint Undertaking required to finance JET's
               payments during the programme period 1987 to 1991 are estimated at 531 million ECU. They are
               intended to cover the extension of the JET device to full performance and its operation and
               exploitation. According to the Statutes of JET, 80 °/o of this amount, equal to 425 million ECU, are
               financed through the Community budget. Out of this amount, 19 million ECU have been committed by
               the Commission prior to 1987. The remaining 406 million ECU will be financed as follows:
               — 378 million ECU from the Programme allocation for JET,
               — 28 million ECU as the participation to JET of Sweden and Switzerland paid via the Community
                    budget.
            0) OJ No L 151, 7. 6. 1978, p.10.