China promises to fund thermonuclear reactor
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China will fulfill its commitment to contribute 10 percent of the funding for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), as members of the multi-billion-dollar project are struggling to meet the spiraling costs.
China made the vow as ITER members are still trying to negotiate the exact spending on the project, which will see "a not slight" increase, Wang Shaoqi, deputy director-general of the ITER Organization, told China Daily.
"The ITER has to increase the budget it made years ago, mainly because of the added scope, scientific and technological development, and the global financial situation," said Wang on the sidelines of the two-day ITER council meeting on Thursday.
The budget rise is an important part of a basic document that will be negotiated by the seven ITER members - China, the European Union, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States, he said.
The ITER organization issued a press release on Thursday night saying its "draft budget for the coming years" had been reviewed at the meeting.
However, the release did not reveal any details about the budget.
In 2005, the ITER project was estimated to cost about 10 billion euros ($12.3 billion) and was to be spread among its stakeholders.
EU will contribute 45 percent of the spending and the other six parties will cover the remaining expenses equally, according to the initial agreement.
However, Nature, the British science journal, reported that construction costs "are likely to double" and that the cost of operations "may also rise".
Norbert Holtkamp, principal deputy director-general of ITER organization, told China Daily on Wednesday that ITER members will address the challenges posed by the funding gaps.
His comments came in response to reports the ITER project had run into deep financial trouble as EU governments scramble to find the money to meet spiraling costs amid the global financial crisis.
Wan Gang, China's minister of science and technology, pledged that the country will keep its commitment to share 10 percent of the cost.
"We will implement our responsibility and keep contributing to ITER, and China will make good use of the international scientific and technological resources to promote the country's independent innovation," he said at the meeting on Wednesday.
Wan also said ITER is the "first and biggest" international scientific project and cooperative researching program that China has participated in "as a fair partner".
"It would be a great contribution for the world's nuclear fusion research, and it also represents an important action to implement China's strategy on developing new energy."
The ITER Agreement, signed in November 2006, came into effect in October 2007 and has an initial duration of 35 years, although it could be extended for an additional 10 years.
The US and the then-Soviet Union initiated the ITER project in the mid-1980s. China joined in February 2003.
The device is described as an "artificial sun" as it will create conditions similar to those occurring in solar nuclear fusion reactions.
Unlike today's nuclear power plants, which split atoms (nuclear fission), the experimental reactor in France will attempt to fuse smaller nuclei into larger nucleus, a process that unleashes huge quantities of heat and light on our sun and other stars.
Chinese engineers and scientists will be in charge of building components such as heating, diagnostic and remote maintenance equipment, as well as transporting it to Cadarache in the south of France, where the ITER reactor will be built.
