Put the two together and make three...
Typical European bullying. I think the US should be pushing hard for Japan.
"Forgive Russia, ignore Germany, punish France" --Dr. Rice.
I hope that Chirax has PO'd the administration enough that they stand up to the DOE and pull out of ITER.
Oh, and that is billions of our tax sollars being decided on a coin toss (and pretty much the end of any domestic moneys for fusion research in the fireseeable future.)
So the E.U. is getting back into fusion again. When did this happen?
Whatever happened to their fear and hatred of all things nuclear? The US Navy still gets protestors every time a ship that MIGHT have nuclear weapons docks in Japan. Are they no longer concerned about a nuclear accident? Is Godzilla really dead now?
If I were a Japanese industrialist I would let the EU build their expensive and dangerous plant, then build my own after they make all the mistakes. The new plant would be half the size, half the cost, and twice as efficient. Now that's the Japanese industry we're used to seeing.
My opinion is that Japan and the U.S. should do their own project, and let the Europeans do whatever they want.
As for funding ideas, we could consider redirecting the money spent on funding the United Nations each year to this project.
If we could convince Japan on that score (not likely unless they are rebuffed on their quest for a Security Council seat, and even that probably would not be enough) that would remove a large portion of the U.N.'s funding. I haven't checked, but I believe that Japan and the U.S. together contribute in the neighborhood of 40% or so of the total budget for the U.N.
Let's offer to sell them the one in Texas which is currently being used as a mushroom farm. We should get at least a reasonable return for it.
I think we'll get out of this somehow. I believe this was another clinton international 'scam the USA taxpayer' scheme, like the space station. Over priced boondoggle.