European Commission Proposes Additional Financing For ITER
Written by NucNet
Thursday, 22 July 2010
The European Commission (EC) has adopted a proposal to allocate 860 million euro (EUR) (1.1 billion US dollars) to the construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in response to “substantial cost increases” to the nuclear fusion project based in Cadarache, France.
The EC proposal, adopted on 20 July 2010, follows the Council of Europe’s conclusions of 12 July, which underline the European Union’s “strong commitment to the successful completion of ITER”.
The proposal, which must be ratified by both the European Parliament and Council of Europe, envisages the re-allocation of EUR 460 million from the EU’s research budget, over two payments in 2012 and 2013. An initial sum of EUR 400 million is also to be transferred from other EU budgets to fund ITER. This is due to be followed by another contribution to the project, although this process is not scheduled to begin until November.
In a press release, the European Commission cited “substantial overall cost increases for ITER” as the reason for its revised project budget. It said the costs for Europe had “more than doubled” from the EUR 2.7 billion initially expected.
“The EU needs to show the vision and the resolve beyond the immediate financing difficulties and meet its international commitment to this project,” said European commissioner for budget Janusz Lewandowski and research commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn in a joint statement.
“ITER can provide a safe, clean and inexhaustible source of energy for the future. This is an immense prize – especially when you consider that the EU had a trade deficit in energy of nearly 400 billion euros in 2008.”
ITER, which will be the world’s largest experimental facility to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of fusion power, is a collaborative project comprising six member countries (China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States) and the European Union.
