[FairOpinion]

"United States could play a decisive role in the decision."

Can anyone think of a SINGLE reason, why we should let France get the $10B, instead of Japan?

Japan proved itself to be our friend, and France proved to us time and time again, that it is our enemy.

[Simmy2.5]

Good point. Both nations have been very kind to nuclear power (France has been an unlikely hero when it comes to the use of it). However, given France's time and time again, the back stabbers of the US, while Japan has been with us for the most part, on the War on Terror, Japan should be shoo-in.

[CasearianDaoist]

If France gets it I bet it was part of the deal that got Germany, France and Russia to cave on the Iraq debt deal. If Japan gets it then Bush really put the screws on the EU. Aside from money, the US contribution in research, scientists and the DOE's huge supercomputing resources are crucial to the success of this project. They most likely cannot do it without the USA.

The deal is that we are puting up $500,000 initially. The host country has to front a majority of the facility construction costs ($3 BIL+) and yearly operation costs ( aprox. $500,000) In view of this it may have been smart for the US not to have bid on hosting the project. It could well turn out that the EU might not be able to meet its obligation over the years, the design may not be that commercial and remote computing may diminish the research value of hosting this thing. Look for immense cost overruns over the 35 to 40 year life cycle of this project. We can also build up our own "cyber infrastructure" here for this project, and that directly benifits other research groups in the US that are not related to this project. There is a good chance that in a few years we can "leapfrog" this work without having to bear the sunk cost of the ITER facility. It may prove in the long run that this was a shrewd decision by the administration.

We should remember that the DOE funds its own fusion research project here in the US that are completely seperate from this deal. It is my feeling that the EU already has CERN and that that should be enough. Let the Japanese have it. It will be interesting to see how this goes. My guess it that France gets it, but I will shout for joy if Japan lands it.

[river rat]

This is a no brainer...
If the French want it, they can't have it...

Semper Fi

[Bonaparte]

Just imagine a "boundless energy source" that makes petroleum almost obsolete. Having no further funding, the islamists would have to go back to their mud huts and camels and the enviro-commies would have to think up another way to wreck America. The beauty of it is that they'd have nobody but themselves to blame.

[Lessismore]

The US is likely contributing only 10% of the budget. The US only joined negotiations in February, one month after China applied to become a full party to ITER. It is not clear whether the US has much influence over the decision, or even any, if it is not yet a member. More likely, Russia is the key swing vote among the three major parties, Euratom, Russia, and Japan.