Joint Declaration by the Representatives of the Parties to the ITER Negotiations, on the Occasion of the Ministerial Meeting for ITER, Moscow, 28th June 2005

The Representatives of theEuropean Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), the Government of the People's Republic of China, the Government of Japan, the Government of the Republic of Korea, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United States of America,

Recalling the successful completion of the ITER Engineering Design Activities (ITER-EDA) under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA);

Recognizing that the ITER-EDA has produced a detailed, complete and fully integrated engineering design of ITER, an international project aimed at demonstrating the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy;

Emphasizing the importance of exploring the long-term potential of fusion energy as a virtually limitless, environmentally acceptable and economically competitive source of energy;

Advocating wide international co-operation in developing this source of energy for all mankind;

Noting the attached Joint Paper that sets out the common views reached by the Heads of Delegations of the European Union and Japan to ITER Negotiations on the respective roles of EURATOM and Japan in the joint implementation of ITER within the six-party Framework;

Convinced, on the basis of progress in research and other developments in the field of fusion energy, of the importance of ITER as the next step on the path to develop fusion energy and of the urgent need to initiate the implementation of ITER;

Emphasizing the importance of ITER for the rapid realization of fusion energy for peaceful purposes and the stimulation of the interest of succeeding generations in fusion;

Emphasizing also the importance of joint implementation and partnership in implementing this long-term and large-scale research project, and of an equitable sharing of the resultant benefits among the Parties to the prospective international agreement on the joint implementation of ITER (hereinafter “the Agreement”);

Mindful of the critical importance of safe and reliable implementation of the construction, operation and decommissioning phases of ITER, including for the purpose of  demonstrating safety and advancing the social acceptability of fusion as an energy source;and

Sharing the common understandings that:

• ITER should be implemented by an international organization (the ITER Organization) to be established and supported by the Parties, to the Agreement (hereinafter “the Parties”) with the possibility of accession by any state or international organization subject to unanimous agreement of the Parties;
• ITER shallbe sited at Cadarache, France; and so the Host and the non-Host in the attached Joint Paper will be respectively EURATOM and Japan;
• the sharing of costs and the allocations among the Parties of procurements of the components of ITER should follow the consensus on these matters that has been reached in the frame of ITER negotiations to date*;
• the Broader Approach activities that will be implemented through bilateral cooperation between EURATOM and the Government of Japan will be open to other Parties for their participations in Broader Approach research activities;

On the above basis:

confirm that the negotiations on the Agreement and related documents reflecting the above-mentioned common understandings should be completed with the greatest urgency for submission thereafter to their respective authorities for signature and ratification, acceptance or approval as necessary, with a view to enabling the entry into force of such Agreement and the start of construction as soon as practicable;

*    The estimated costs of ITER construction are set out in the Final Report of the ITER EDA (ITER Documentation Series No 21, IAEA, Vienna 2001.)

The ITER Host Party will contribute 50% of the construction costs of ITER. Each other Party will contribute 10%.