CELEX: 51984PC0271(01)
Language: en
Date: 1984-05-18
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ADOPTING A RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAMME 1985 TO 1989 IN THE FIELD OF CONTROLLED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION

27.7.84                                Official Journal of the European Communities                           No C 198/3
                                                               II
                                                       (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Decision adopting a research and training programme (1985 to
                                    1989) in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion
                                                      COM(84) 271 final
                              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 22 May 1984)
                                                        (84/C 198/03)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                        (1982 to 1986) in the field of controlled thermo-
COMMUNITIES,                                                       nuclear fusion; whereas Article 3 of that Decision
                                                                   provides that the Commission will submit to the
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the                       Council, not later than 1 July 1984, a review proposal
European Atomic Energy Community, and in                           designed to replace the 1982 to 1986 programme with
particular Article 7 thereof,                                      a new five-year programme (1985 to 1989) with 1985
                                                                   and 1986 constituting years common to both
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission                  programmes; whereas Decision 82/350/Euratom
presented after consultation of the Scientific and                 should therefore be repealed;
Technical Committee,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-                  Whereas, as a result of such repeal, 45,6 million ECU
liament,                                                           assigned to the preceding programme, exclusive of
                                                                   JET (Joint European Torus), and 72 million ECU
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                   assigned to the preceding programme for the JET
Social Committee,                                                  project will remain available; whereas these amounts
                                                                   will be assigned to the new programme; whereas such
Whereas the energy problem is shared by all the                    a step as well as the fact that the programme
Member States; whereas joint efforts to resolve this               embraces all work carried out in the Member States
problem are likely to produce better results; whereas              in this field, must be taken into account in
thermonuclear fusion is one possible solution to the               determining the expenditure commitments estimated
energy problem in the longer term; whereas the                     necessary for the execution of the new programme;
rational use of all the different energy sources must
be coordinated; whereas the Community must
therefore continue to ensure optimum consistency in
its efforts between Community activities in the                    Whereas, in view of the considerable efforts needed
various sectors of energy and energy research;                     to reach the application stage of controlled thermo-
                                                                   nuclear fusion, which could be of benefit to the
Whereas these considerations have been taken into                  Community, particularly in the wider context of the
account in the first framework programme 1984 to                   security of its long-term energy supplies, the various
 1987 laid down in the Council resolution of 25 July               stages of development of the work hitherto
 1983 (*), setting out the complete range of scientific            undertaken in this field must continue on a joint
and technical activities being carried out or due to be            basis;
carried out on the basis of the three Treaties;
Whereas thermonuclear fusion forms an important                    Whereas the research proposed by the Commission
objective within the framework programme;                           constitutes an appropriate means of pursuing such
                                                                    action and it is, consequently, in the common interest
Whereas, in its Decision 82/350/Euratom (2), the                    to adopt a multiannual programme in the field of
 Council adopted a research and training programme                  controlled thermonuclear fusion the existence of
                                                                   which is moreover necessary to enable the
 0) OJ No C 208, 4. 8. 1983, p. 1.                                  Community        to    participate   in   international
 (2) OJ No L 157, 8. 6. 1982, p. 22.                                cooperation in this field;
 ---pagebreak---  No C 198/4                         Official Journal of the European Communities                            27.7.84
Whereas the continuation of the programme should               Whereas, furthermore, the mobility of staff between
be based on the strategy                                       organizations cooperating in the execution of the
                                                               programme should be promoted,
— to pursue a substantial programme following the
    Tokamak route towards a demonstration reactor,             HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
    to complete the first stage of the programme
    formed by the JET project with its extensions and
                                                                                      Article 1
    by the full exploitation of the devices existing or
    under construction in the Associations,                    A research and training programme in the field of
                                                               controlled thermonuclear fusion as defined in the
— to continue the definition and predesign of the              Annex is hereby adopted for a five-year period as
    second step of the Tokamak programme, the                  from 1 January 1985.
    Next European Torus (NET) and to pursue the
    technological developments required for its design                                Article 2
    and construction as well as those needed in the            The expenditure commitments estimated necessary
    longer term for the fusion reactor,                        for the implementation of the programme exclusive of
                                                               JET should be 443 million ECU, including an amount
— to investigate, within the available resources,
                                                               of 45,6 million ECU remaining from the previous
    alternative confinement systems, concentrating on
                                                               programme. The number of staff is evaluated at 105.
    reversed field pinches and stellarators, subject to a
    periodic reassessment of their reactor potential           The expenditure commitments estimated necessary
    compared with that of the Tokamak;                         for JET during the duration of the programme should
                                                               be 347 million ECU including an amount of 72
Whereas this strategy should be reviewed at the next           million    ECU     remaining     from  the   previous
programme revision to take place in 1987 when it               programme. The number of temporary employees
should be decided whether to start D-T operation in            within the meaning of Article 2 (a) of the conditions
JET and whether to start the detailed design of N E T ;        of employment of other servants of the European
Whereas the research programme of the Joint                    communities is evaluated at 165.
Research Centre adopted by the Council on 22
December 1983 (') provides for a participation of the                                 Article 3
JRC in the field of N E T and technology;                      The Commission shall submit to the Council in 1987
Whereas it is important that the Community should              a review proposal designed to replace the present
continue to encourage the construction of certain              programme with a five-year programme with effect
equipment concerned with projects accorded priority            from 1 January 1988.
status, the support of JET and NET by the
associations and certain developments in the field of                                 Article 4
fusion technology, by granting a preferential rate of          Decision 82/350/Euratom is hereby repealed with
participation in the expenditure for such actions;             effect from 1 January 1985.
Whereas the direct involvement of Industry of the              However, amounts which, pursuant to Decision
implementation of the programme and in particular in           82/350/Euratom, are authorized under the relevant
the field of N E T and Fusion Technology should be             headings of the 1982, 1983 and 1984 budgets and
strengthened;                                                  which on 1 January 1985 have not yet been
                                                               committed, or which, by that date, have been
                                                               committed but not yet paid, may be used for the
0) O J N o L 3 , 5. 1. 1984, p. 21.                            execution of the present programme.
 ---pagebreak--- 27. 7. 84                           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           N o C 198/5
                                                              ANNEX
                                    C O N T R O L L E D T H E R M O N U C L E A R FUSION
          1. The subject matter of the programme to be executed shall be:
             (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 plasma of widely varying density
                  and temperature;
             (c) research into light-matter interactions and transport phenomena and the development of
                  high-power lasers;
             (d) the development and application to confinement devices of sufficiently powerful plasma
                  heating methods;
             (e) improvement of diagnostic methods;
             (f) definition and predesign 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) shall be carried out by means of association
             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 shall be part of a long-term cooperative project embracing all
             work carried out in the Member States in the field of controlled 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 appropriation of 443 million ECU fixed for the programme exclusive of JET can be broken
             down as follows:
             (a) about 36 % for the financing at a rate of approximately 45 % of projects, as specified in
                  paragraph 4;
             (b) about 6 % for certain industrial contracts in the fields of 'NET/Fusion Technology' and the
                  development of advanced plasma heating methods, financed at a rate of 100 % , as defined in
                  paragraph 4;
              (c) about 6 % for the financing of administration costs and for 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;
              (d) about 1 % for the financing at a rate of approximately 75 % of operational costs of the N E T
                  Team;
              (e) the amount not set aside for the operations and expenditure referred to in (a), (b), (c) and
                  (d) and any positive balance from the contributions of associated third countries under the
                  programme exclusive of JET, shall be devoted to the financial participation by the
                  Community in other expenditure incurred by the associations. This participation shall be at a
                  uniform rate of about 25 %.
          («) OJ N o L 151, 7. 6. 1978, p. 10.
 ---pagebreak---  No C 198/6                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                  27. 7. 84
              4. After advice of 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) NET 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 (b).
                 In return, all Associations shall have the right to take part in the experiments carried out with the
                 equipment thus constructed.
              5. The expenditure commitments estimated necessary for the contribution to the JET project should
                 be 347 million ECU. The amount in question is intended to finance the extension of the JET
                 device to full performance and its operation and exploitation with a participation rate of 80 °/o.
                 The Swedish and Swiss contributions to the JET project shall be deducted directly from the
                 financing of that part of the overall budget laid down for the project which is to be borne by the
                 Community budget.
             Proposal for a Council Decision complementing Council Decision 84/1/EURATOM, EEC
                          of 22 December 1983 — Realization of a tritium handling laboratory
                                                        COM(84) 271 final
                               (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 22 May 1984)
                                                          (84/C 198/04)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                            safety and development of nuclear energy and to the
COMMUNITIES,                                                           acquisition and dissemination of information in the
                                                                       nuclear field;
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Atomic Energy Community, and in
particular Article 7 thereof,
                                                                       Whereas, during the period 1984 to 1987, the Joint
                                                                       Research Centre (JRC) must continue to play a
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                     central role in the Community's research strategy and
presented after consultation of the Scientific and                     to carry but work of common interest by drawing on
Technical Committee,                                                   a level of resources which is the equivalent of the
                                                                       level of the previous multiannual programme;
Having regard to the opinion of the European Par-
liament ('),
                                                                       Whereas more generally, the JRC programme as a
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                       whole must be in keeping with the conclusions of the
Social Committee (2),                                                  Council of 10 March 1983 with regard to European
                                                                       research activities of particular significance;
Whereas, in the context of the common policy
relating to the field of science and technology, the
multiannual research programme is one of the
principal means whereby the European Atomic                            Whereas the Council Decision of 22 December 1983
Energy     Community         can     contribute      to    the         adopting a research programme to be implemented by
                                                                       the Joint Research Centre underlines a particular role
O OJ No C 307, 14. 11. 1983, p. 116.                                   of the JRC in the field of fusion technology and
(2) OJ No C 341, 19. 12. 1983, p. 9.                                   safety,