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APPENDIX I 



APPENDIX I 



A third joint project with Japan was negotiated in November 

 1983. Under that agreement, Japan will contribute $5 million over 

 5 years to the operation of two fission reactors at the Oak Ridge 

 National Laboratory in exchange for participation in ongoing 

 fusion-related materials experiments at those reactors. 



The only other fusion joint project is the Large Coil Project 

 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This project, arranged 

 under the auspices of the International Energy Agency, is a multi- 

 -national effort involving the United States, Japan, Switzerland, 

 and the European Community. Under this project, these countries 

 are supplying large superconducting magnets — magnets that become 

 excellent conductors of electricity at very low temperatures — to 

 the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Experiments are being con- 

 ducted there to examine the performance of alternative designs in 

 superconducting magnet technology, and to prove magnet design 

 principles and fabrication techniques needed for the next 

 generation of fusion reactors. 



IMPACT OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE 

 EFFORTS ON THE UNITED STATES' ABILITY 

 TO MAINTAIN WORLD LEADERSHIP IN FUSION 

 ENERGY DEVELOPMENT 



At this time, the United States is generally regarded by 

 U.S. fusion experts as the world leader in fusion energy 

 development. This position is in jeopardy as other countries 

 pursue ambitious magnetic fusion R&D programs. The fusion experts 

 we talked to, however, do not believe that U.S. participation in 

 international cooperative R&D projects directly affects its 

 leadership position because all countries are benefiting from 

 them, and because the construction of a commercial fusion reactor 

 is so far in the future. Rather, leadership will depend on the 

 united States' future commitments to its program compared with 

 other nations' commitments to their programs. 



According to the head of the experimental division at the 

 Princeton University Plasma Physics Laboratory, the United States 

 is the world leader in fusion R&D because it has constructed and 

 is operating a fusion device which most closely approximates a 

 commercial fusion reactor — the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at 

 Princeton. However, both Japan and the European Community are 

 constructing larger, more ambitious tokamak devices which will be 

 in operation in the near future. 



Leadership in the 1990' s will depend on which country makes a 

 commitment to a new, larger, more advanced fusion project to 

 follow the current generation of fusion devices. Both Japan and 

 the European Community are already designing and have definite 

 plans to construct a next-generation fusion device. The United 

 States does not yet have definite plans for such a device. 



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