under the Science and Technology Agency, concentrates on the tokamati 

 and on fusion technology. The JT-60 tokamak, which will begin 

 operation within one year, will have confinement capabilities 

 comparable to those of TFTR, although JT-60 is not designed for 

 deuterium-tritium operation. Conceptual design studies are in 

 progress for a new major tokamak experiment. Fusion Experimental 

 Reactor (FER) , to operate in the mid to late 1990s. PER **ould have 

 objectives similar to those of NET. The fusion technology program is 

 comparable in strength to the U.S. program, although not so broad. 

 The university fusion program, under the Ministry of Education, 

 Science and Culture, has funding comparable to the JAERI base progreun 

 and conducts basic scientific and technological research that appears 

 even broader than either the EC or U.S. programs. This progreun 

 investigates several confinement concepts, including tokamak, tandem 

 mirror, stellarator, reversed-f ield pinch, compact toroid, and bumpy 

 torus. The reversed-f ield pinch is also being developed under a small 

 program of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. Of 

 special note is the role of Japanese industry in designing and 

 supplying complete systems to the fusion program; in this respect 

 industrial involvement in Japan is greater than it is in the EC and 

 U.S. programs. 



The Soviet Union 



The committee did not look into the fusion program of the Soviet 

 Union. However, it is known that the USSR program is advanced to a 

 level comparable with that of the other three major programs. The 

 USSR program has historically been characterized by strong scientific 

 insight. Past cooperation with the USSR has been technically fruitful 

 and could beneficially be expanded from the rather modest current 

 levels if U.S. policy constraints change. Circumstances may change 

 sufficiently in the future to make renewed scientific cooperation with 

 the USSR desirable from the policy viewpoint of each country, in which 

 case fusion would be a suitable vehicle. 



Implications for Cooperation 



Three points made in the foregoing discussion have important 

 implications for increased world cooperation: (1) the programs are at 

 a comparable stage of development, (2) their near- to 

 intermediate-term objectives are similar enough to provide a technical 

 basis for a major expansion of cooperation in the future, and (3) 

 maintaining enough strength to meet national needs will surely be a 

 concern of each program. 



