France, Japan and Spain have joined Canada in the competition to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The experiment, which will cost $4bn, is intended to demonstrate the technical feasibility of nuclear fusion - the process that powers the sun - as an energy source. The offers were made at a meeting of delegations from Canada, the European Union, Japan and Russia at Cadarache in France earlier this week.
Canada was the first nation to make a bid to host the experiment, offering a site at Clarington near Toronto last year. The French government has now offered a site at Cadarache, where the French atomic energy commission (CEA) already has a laboratory. Japan has offered a site at Rokkasho-mura in the Aomori Prefecture, while Spain has proposed a site at Vandellos near Barcelona.
The host will be expected to pay at least half of the cost of ITER and a decision on the site is expected before the end of the year. The negotiators will meet again in Toronto in September, in Aomori in October and in Barcelona in December.
