Why in France?

Abstract

ITER could have been built in any one of the 35 countries that are participating in the project. So why Cadarache rather than Beijing or San Diego? Overall, it took no fewer than 10 years of technical studies, political negotiations, and diplomatic arrangements before Cadarache was finally chosen to host ITER. Although this was a complex issue, it had major consequences. Formally speaking, discussions about the site started in spring 2001 when the report on ITER’s detailed design was being finalised. The three project members (Europe, Japan, and Russia) started to consider fundamental practical questions. Where were they going to build ITER? How much would it cost? Who would pay for what? All these questions had major political, economic, and technical implications since the selected site (and the host country) would receive concrete benefits, but there would also be myriad practical concerns such as transport, water, and electricity supplies. Actually, only four countries put their names forward to host ITER: Canada, France, Japan, and Spain. EU countries decided to support France as the European candidate. Canada withdrew from the discussions. But over three years of technical and diplomatic discussions were deemed necessary to reach a consensus. On May 4, 2005 Yomiuri Shimbun, the largest Japanese daily, announced a decision by the Tokyo government to withdraw its proposal to host ITER. Intense negotiations lasted until June 28, 2005 when the ministers and deputy ministers of the ITER Parties met in Moscow. After a few hours of discussion a consensus was finally reached, with members unanimously accepting that the experimental fusion reactor that China, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States had decided to build together (India would join them at the end of the year) would eventually be installed in Cadarache in the small commune of Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (980 inhabitants) approximately 80 km north of Marseille. Construction work began on-site at the end of 2007. The 181-ha site on which ITER was built was leased to the ITER Organization on a 99-year long-term lease.