716 



BY THE U.S. GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE 





Report To The 



Honorable Fortney H. Stark, Jr. .^^ 



House Of Representatives Ivf 



1 



The Impact Of International Cooperation In *^^\g' 

 DOE'S Magnetic Confinement Fusion Program;^PI 



The U.S. fusion community participates in 

 many cooperative projects with other coun 

 tries conducting research in fusion energy 

 a new potential source of virtually unlimited 

 nuclear power. Many of these projects in 

 volve routine exchanges of information 

 Others are pursued under formal agiee 

 ments that allow U.S. and foreign scientists 

 to participate in research at U.S. and foreign 

 fusion facilities and may involve the contri 

 bution of funds and/or equipment. 



U.S. fusion energy experts believe that inter , t^'*c 



national cooperative efforts benefit all par » w^l 



ticipants and contribute to the advancement 

 of U.S. fusion research objectives. Interna 

 tional cooperative efforts, of themselves do 



tional cooperative ettorts, ot themselves do '^■> 



not directly affect the U.S. leadership posi K 



tlon in fusion energy. Because fusion ^ V 



energy is in such an early stage of develop 

 ment, it is unlikely that any country could 

 obtain a commercial advantage from infor 

 mation obtained from ongoing international 

 cooperative efforts. 





GAO/RCED 84 74 

 FEBRUARY 17, 1984 



