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country to build and operate major facilities needed . for 

 progress in magnetic fusion, high energy physics, nuclear 

 physics, the research necessary to understand the phenomena of 

 combustion, development of new materials, etc. By pooling 

 resources and talent more effectively, scientific momentum may 

 be maintained in the face of static or declining R&D budgets. 



— The time may be right for closer working relations with 

 other countries. Western Europe and Japan share the same 

 energy objectives as we do. Our economies have become increas- 

 ingly interconnected and interdependent over the past ten to 

 fifteen years. As the level of scientific and technical 

 activities of Western Europe and Japan have become closer to 

 ours, and program directions complement ours, technological 

 interchange has become more commonplace and mutually 

 beneficial. We have become accustomed to working with each 

 other on a daily basis, and we are gradually developing the 

 mutual understanding and trust that are indispensable to even 

 greater collaboration and scientific interdependence. 

 International cooperation is being made considerably easier to 

 conduct by the rapid advances in telecommunications and 

 satellite data links. 



An international political consensus seems to be emerging 

 supporting greater international cooperation in energy science. 

 The Department's most recent National Energy Policy Plan points 

 out that it is incumbent upon the United States, as the world's 

 largest producer and consumer of energy resources, to play a 



