651 



current planning and conunitraent either the European Community or Japan 

 could achieve, at some date, a perceived position that would make 

 international collaboration in a bilateral or trilateral mode less 

 attractive to them than it is today. The Japanese have greater 

 motivation to pursue fusion energy because of lack of indigenous 

 energy resources; they are committed to make fusion a success as an 

 energy source. The Japanese will consider collaboration, but only if 

 it fits their independent program. The Western Europeans have already 

 demonstrated collaboration at the international level through the 

 European Community. The European Community attaches less urgency to 

 its fusion program as a result of its anticipation of the fast breeder 

 fission reactor. However, the European Community collaboration in 

 fusion has overcome early obstacles and has generated a firm plan and 

 stable support. 



All our recent discussions revealed a desire for equal 

 participation in planning, science, engineering, and management. At a 

 more senior level, the people that we visited understood clearly the 

 budgetary pressures for greater cooperation as well as the pressures 

 of national interest. We found a receptivity to the idea of 

 large-scale international collaboration at both the program leadership 

 and political levels. 



If one considers that each of the three major programs — in the 

 United States, the European Community, and Japan — may well include an 

 engineering reactor and a demonstration reactor (although the latter 

 is not considered in the United States to be a government 

 responsibility) as prerequisites to commercialization, there are also 

 ample technical opportunities for large-scale international 

 collaboration. 



Finally, proprietary concerns are largely absent now because the 

 programs are mostly conducted by the public sector in recognition of 

 the long time before commercial application is likely. 



3. Large-scale international collaboration can be achieved, but not 

 quickly . 



Because both European Community and Japanese planning is detailed 

 and resources are rather firmly committed for the next few years, 

 large-scale collaboration does not appear possible before the late 

 1980s. Moreover, results from the Joint European Torus and the JT-60 

 tokamak in Japan, as well as from the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor, 

 will also become available during this period; and important program 

 choices are awaiting this information. 



Furthermore, any major collaboration must meet the requirements of 

 the separate programs of the parties and so must be preceded by a 

 joint planning effort. 



