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EUROPEAN AND JAPANESE PERCEPTIONS OF INCENTIVES AND CONSTRAINTS 



These impressions are culled from the visits of the committee to Japan 

 and the EC to talk to fusion program leaders there. Summaries of 

 these trips appear as Appendixes C and D. 



In general, the Europeans and the Japanese seem affected by the 

 general incentives and constraints for international cooperation in 

 much the same way that Americans are. There is some feeling that 

 fusion research and development budgets are not unlimited and that 

 international cooperation, as it has in the past, can be an aid to 

 achieving program results. At the moment, the Europeans and the 

 Japanese seem to feel this incentive less strongly than the 

 Americans. Some other observations indicating European and Japanese 

 perceptions of the incentives and constraints of international 

 cooperation are noted below. 



European Perceptions 



For a number of Europeans, the perceived need for fusion was not 

 especially strong in view of other energy sources and supplies. 

 Fusion work was classed mainly as an "insurance policy." While the 

 long-term economic benefits from fusion were thought by the Europeans 

 to be great, those benefits cannot be estimated accurately at 

 present. There is, therefore, in the European view, no quantitative 

 justification for any particular program scope and pace. With any 

 deployment far in the future, fusion development programs must be 

 funded entirely by the public sector. The utilities in Europe wait 

 and watch without investing in fusion. 



At the political level in the EC, international collaboration on 

 fusion research and development is considered desirable. Cooperation 

 with both the United States and Japan has been endorsed. However, it 

 was felt that the three world-class programs would have to be brought 

 into better coordination in order to enjoy full cooperation on the 

 next large step. 



The fusion collaboration within the EC and the product of that 

 collaboration, JET, is viewed with much pride. Indeed, there is some 

 expectation by its participants that the EC tokamak may shortly 

 achieve the leading technical position in the world. There is a 

 desire on the part of some EC participants to maintain the 

 self-sufficiency of the EC program and not to broaden the scale of 

 cooperation to the extent that EC unity might be diminished 

 (Commission of the European Communities, 1984a). Thus, preservation 

 of the unity and coherence in the EC program may be an important 

 constraint on any further cooperative planning and may even diminish 

 interest in large-scale collaboration beyond the EC. 



