Asia lose momentum in international reactor bid
Michael Richardson, The Straits Times, Asia News Network, Singapore
Six of the world's leading powers are due to meet in Russia at the end of this month to try to settle a long-running dispute over whether France or Japan should host a revolutionary energy project known as ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.
Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the Japanese government would announce at the meeting that it is giving up its bid to build the reactor in Japan. But an official at the Science Ministry has denied the report. Still, thanks to Chinese opposition to siting ITER in Japan, it seems increasingly likely that it will be constructed in France instead -- at a cost of at least US$10 billion (S$16.7 billion), including operating expenses over 35 years.
China is supporting France, apparently because Beijing believes it can get more from Europe than from Japan in scientific and technological cooperation. But if the outcome is a victory for France, it will be a loss not just for Japan but for big science in Asia as well.
ITER is due to start operating in 2014. If all goes to plan, it will be the first large-scale demonstration of nuclear fusion, the process that makes the sun such a prolific source of energy. Some scientists say fusion is the best option for clean and abundant power in the 21st century.
France -- backed by the European Union, China and Russia -- certainly seems confident it will win the long tussle for ITER, leaving Japan, which is supported by South Korea and the United States, out in the cold.
ITER would use sea water as fuel. Fusion would occur when atoms of hydrogen collide and stick together to form the heavier element helium, ejecting spare sub-atomic particles called neutrons at very high energies. Capturing and converting this energy into heat and then electricity promises a rich power source for the future. But years of research have so far failed to produce a commercially viable fusion reactor.
Unlike energy from coal, oil and other fossil fuels, fusion produces no environmentally damaging emissions. Its fuel sources -- like sea water -- are virtually limitless. In contrast to nuclear fission -- the reaction that drives the world's existing nuclear power stations -- fusion poses no known danger of weapons proliferation or highly radioactive spent fuel.
China's opposition to Japan hosting the cutting edge ITER experiment reflects the increasingly intense rivalry between the two countries. They have been at loggerheads over interpretation of history, Taiwan, offshore energy as well as maritime boundaries. Japan has joined the U.S. in urging the EU not to lift its arms embargo on China. Beijing, meanwhile, has said it will block any plan for Japan to get a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
The EU is seeking to reach an accord with Japan by offering it a 'privileged partnership' in the project, involving a bigger role for Japan in building ITER, managing the venture and receiving research contracts from it. Japanese media reported recently that Tokyo had two conditions to benefit business at home before giving up its bid to host the revolutionary project.
One was for some of the funds due to be poured into ITER to go instead to upgrade an existing nuclear fusion research center in Japan.
The Nihon Keizei Shimbun said that so far, Japan and EU have agreed that Japan would receive over $500 million worth of contracts to build facilities related to ITER and that a new analysis unit for ITER would be built in Japan. Japan could also be compensated with top jobs at ITER and additional construction contracts.
But none of this can hide the heavy loss of prestige for the world's second-largest economy and Asia's most advanced scientific and technological nation. Nor will it help to ease the ire that Japan must feel towards China for undercutting an Asian bid to harness the power of the sun.
The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. This is a personal comment.