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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| US favors Japan over France for International Fusion Reactor |
| 2003-12-20 |
| Scientists are meeting in Washington to decide where to build the world’s first big nuclear fusion reactor. Nuclear fusion holds out the promise of virtually limitless pollution-free energy - but the reactor will take 10 years to build. The multi-billion dollar project is likely to be based either in Cadarache in France or in Rokkasho-mura in Japan. But the US is opposing the French option because of France’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Yup. Chirac and de Villepin have only begun to reap the rewards of stabbing Powell in the back .... Member countries of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) project have been gathering in the US to make a final decision on the location of the project. The Japanese site has the advantages of proximity to a port, a ground of solid bedrock and a nearby US military base. The French site offers an existing research facility and a more moderate climate. The Iter consortium consists of the European Union, United States, Russia, China, Canada, Japan and South Korea. The experts are supposed to reach a consensus based on objective criteria, but observers say that the wider political context may play a part. You don’t say - geopolitics affecting decisions about advanced technology and an energy source that could replace oil??? Who’d a thunk it? A French government envoy, Pierre Lellouche, said "very intense" talks were being held at a high-level before the meeting. The European Union is backing France - but Canada, China, Russia, South Korea, the United States and Tokyo itself are reported to be favouring Japan. Interesting range of companies arrayed against France. Watch to see how Japan emerges as a power in the Asian sphere again, between this (if they get it) and their participation in Iraq and in an anti-missile defense. The US, in particular, has raised objections to the French option, citing its opposition to the Iraq invasion. "We have the structure, scientific and technical environment to ensure that this scheme can start up with competence, expertise and solid safety guarantees," French Research Minister Claudie Haignere said. "scheme" - he said it, not me! "If our site is chosen, Japan will cover the costs that are needed," said Hidekazu Tanaka, a senior official of the Japanese Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology ministry. Ouch - hitting the French where it hurts .... plus Japan has a much better track record than France in both basic research and turning research into useable technology. Iter is the boldest nuclear initiative since the Manhattan Project - the effort to build the first atom bomb, says BBC News Online’s science editor David Whitehouse. It would also be the world’s largest international co-operative research and development project after the International Space Station. Scientists say it will be the first fusion device to produce thermal energy at the level of an electricity-producing power station. Its goal will be to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for 500 seconds or longer during each individual fusion experiment and, in doing so, demonstrate essential technologies for a commercial reactor. But they are all agreed that taming the power of the Sun will not be easy. The superhot gas in which the fusion takes place is notoriously difficult to control. The gas, termed a plasma, has to be kept hot and contained for fusion to take place. So far, no one has achieved a prolonged self-sustaining fusion event. Advocates of fusion power point out that if they succeed, there is an almost limitless supply of power available because the deuterium atoms on which it would be based can be derived from seawater. |
| Posted by:rkb |
| #9 Japan should be safe now that Godzilla moved to NY. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-12-20 10:09:11 PM |
| #8 Alaska Paul #6 - I do know the connotations of the term in Europe, just indulged myself a bit. [smile] More seriously: it looks as if France may not be the most politically, economically and socially stable country in the coming decades. Bad place to put a fusion reactor IMO. |
| Posted by: rkb 2003-12-20 6:05:17 PM |
| #7 It's also easier to spot turbans in Japan. Alot easier. -- Anon. Not entirely, Anon.. silly as it sounds, there actually ARE a few, a very few, native Japanese who've converted to Islam. They're much fewer than the Japanese Christians, who are a tiny minority in Japan themselves, but there are some. If I were an Islamo-looney cleric, I'd re-arrange my agenda, putting the need to place the most sincere Japanese Muslims into important sleeper position in that nation at the top of my "to-do" list. That's how you fight that sort of war. Ed Becerra |
| Posted by: Ed Becerra 2003-12-20 3:27:17 PM |
| #6 rkb---"scheme" in European English usually refers to a plan or program, not like the US English connotation of some kind of scam or underhanded plan. However, in this case, when dealing with the French govt, it can refer to both....LOL! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-20 3:02:19 PM |
| #5 Ultimately, this will go too Japan. France just has too many factors that don't go in our favor. And since we will be paying for most of this ( I assume ), we'll get the final say. It's also easier to spot turbans in Japan. Alot easier. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-12-20 2:55:14 PM |
| #4 ...not to mention France being over-run by Sharia in the next decade or so. Plus, their little we're-all-a-happy-EU-family experiment will just be a pain in the ass to deal with down the road. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2003-12-20 2:41:08 PM |
| #3 That ten-year timeline will have to be lengthened if it goes to France: 35-hour weeks, no overtime, all that mandatory vacation when the young scientists hit the beach so the old scientists can dehydrate and die from heatstroke in their labs...you're looking at a good fifty, sixty years. |
| Posted by: (lowercase) matt 2003-12-20 2:26:14 PM |
| #2 Looking pretty grim for the French landing this project, given the clusterf*ck that is the Charles de Gaulle. Is Ladbroke's taking bets on this one? |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-12-20 1:54:36 PM |
| #1 And one other thought: I think the US - Japanese relationship will continue to grow in importance in the 21st century. Neither country wants China to dominate the world in a generation or two, as she is on track to try to do, and both have a business and a security stake in a stable Pacific Rim. We also both have a stake in containing the virulent Islamacist fundamentalism that is sweeping countries like Indonesia, where the poverty level and illiteracy are even worse than many areas of the Middle East. Europe has its importance, but watch the PacRim for this century .... |
| Posted by: rkb 2003-12-20 12:02:58 PM |