U.S. government, but they are the most difficult to establish. 

 Intergovernmental agreements are much easier to put into place because 

 they can be negotiated at lower governmental levels, but they are also 

 much less binding — they can be unilaterally terminated. The 

 credibility of the United States as a "reliable partner" has been 

 damaged by past unilateral terminations in space sciences, synthetic 

 fuels, and even fusion itself. 



Existing international organizations offer auspices under which 

 more extensive international cooperation could be carried out without 

 the necessity of new implementing agreements. As previously noted, 

 the lEA is currently serving quite effectively as a mechanism for the 

 participation of several nations in LCTF and TEXTOR. The INTOR 

 workshop under IAEA was also mentioned above. An expansion of such 

 activities under these agencies is reasonable. However, neither lEA 

 nor IAEA, or indeed other existing international organizations, would 

 be suitable as sponsors for a major international project because they 

 all are primarily coordinating, rather than managerial, organizations. 



Still, an existing international organization may provide a 

 framework for initiating a project, as was the case with the European 

 Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) . CERN was initiated by an 

 organizing conference in 1951, sponsored by the United Nations 

 Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in an action that 

 was ratified three years later by enough countries to assure 75 

 percent of the required funding. CERN went on to become a highly 

 successful institution, with international participation in design and 

 construction of large-scale facilities and in performance of 

 experiments. 



For fusion the most relevant example of a major international 

 project is JET (JET Joint Undertaking, 1982). The project was set up 

 as a Joint Undertaking by the Member States of the EC in 1978 (Wilson, 

 1981) under provisions of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which established 

 the EC. Establishment of the Joint Undertaking was preceded by the 

 JET Working Group in 1971 and the JET Design Team in 1973. Failure in 

 the initial agreement to create a mechanism to decide on the site 

 almost resulted in cancellation of the project in 1977. 



The following aspects of JET management (Commission of the European 

 Communities, undated) are noteworthy in that they combine technical 

 and political elements in the decision-making chain: 



o The JET Council, assisted by the JET Executive Committee and 



the JET Scientific Committee, is responsible for the management 

 of the project. The Council meets at least twice a year. 



o The Commission of the European Communities is responsible for 

 financial decisions to the extent of its 80-percent 

 contribution to the project. 



o National research organizations provide guidance to the JET 

 Council on technical issues. 



