Cost overruns in the ITER nuclear fusion reactor project have forced the European Commission to revise its financing plans for the project.
The EU executive has adopted a proposal to find €1.4 billion of funds for the project in order to honour its international commitment to ITER. The move follows the July 12 conclusions of the European Council, which underlined its strong commitment to the project.
The European Commission has proposed meeting the project's additional financing needs of €1.4 billion for 2012-2013 with unused funds from the EU budget and redeployment of €460 million from the 7th Framework Programme for Research.
Europe's bill for the project has nearly trebled from €2.7 billion to €6.6 billion until 2020. The Council has called for strong cost containment measures for the project and the Commission's proposal calls for a fixed, annual contribution to be made to ITER for the period after 2013.
“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 in 2008,” said EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski and Research Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn. “The EU needs to show the vision and the resolve beyond the immediate financing difficulties and meet its international commitment to this project.
“What we are proposing today is a balanced solution which we believe can meet the aspirations of both Council and Parliament, while also remaining consistent with the Europe 2020 goals, which give a top priority to maintaining and increasing investment in research and innovation.”
The experimental reactor project is being hosted by France and is an international collaboration involving the EU, USA, China, Japan, India, Russian and South Korea.
The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers will now have to agree on the Commission's proposal, which amends the EU's current long term budget for 2007-2013.
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