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which foreign participation is sought at about the 10 percent level, 

 it is probably best for the initiating nation to determine the 

 objectives, cost, schedule, and design parameters of the project, with 

 limited participation of potential partners. The initiating nation 

 would then make a firm commitment to proceed and invite foreign 

 participants to join in planning and executing the experimental 

 program. On the other hand, for an international project in which the 

 participants intend to collaborate as more or less equal partners, it 

 is necessary for all to work together during the early determination 

 of the objectives, cost, schedule, and design parameters of the 

 project. 



COMPATIBILITY OF GOALS 



Differing levels of definition and detail in national fusion research 

 and development programs can complicate negotiations on specific 

 international cooperative projects. The party with the better defined 

 program starts with the advantage of knowing more precisely where it 

 wants to go and what it needs to obtain from the cooperative effort. 

 The partners with the less well-defined programs are put at 

 disadvantag<». Their choice is between accepting an agreement that may 

 not be full^ advantageous or delaying the negotiation until they can 

 evolve a suitable level of detail in their own national program plans 

 to match that of the other negotiators. 



The stated goals and milestones differ somewhat among the programs 

 of Japan, the European Community (EC) , and the United States, being 

 more definite in the first two. Nevertheless, all these programs, to 

 some degree, lack detail as to performance, schedules, and costs. 

 This fact suggests the possibility, at least, of attaining a 

 reasonable compatibiity of goals through program adjustments. 



Accordingly, two matters ought to be taken in hand soon by the U.S. 

 Department of Energy (DOE) . The first is the assessment of funding 

 realities for the U.S. fusion program for some years to come, bringing 

 the U.S. fusion community to recognize those realities, and the 

 development in the U.S. fusion community of a consensus on the next 

 important development steps to take, without a generally accepted 

 priority for the next development steps, all the different project 

 proponents are in competition for the same funds. Until some 

 agreement and order is imposed, these various groups of advocates 

 could confuse any efforts at international cooperation rather badly. 

 A key step in this process is an assessment, and the subsequent 

 acceptance of that assessment, as to whether major machines of the 

 future can be financed by the United States alone without crippling 

 its base research and development program. Substantial increases over 

 current budget levels would be necessary to support the major 



