China ratifies ITER agreement
International Organisation will come into existence in 30 days
Monday 24 September 24, China has submitted a letter to the Interational Atomic Energy Agency in which it ratifies the agreement to build the international fusion reactor ITER. By now, all seven ITER partners (apart from China, the EU, United States, Russia, Japan, India and South-Korea are involved in the project) have ratified the agreement that was signed 21 November 2006. The agreement will enter into force 30 days after this last ratification, and at that time ITER will officially become an International Organization.
Tang Guoqiang, China's permanent representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, submitted to IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei the ratification letter which was signed by Chinese President Hu Jintao. ElBaradei praised China's active research in the field of atomic fusion technology, saying the country's access to the ITER International Fusion Energy Organization is of great significance to the project.
The aim of the ITER project is to prove the technical feasability of nuclear fusion as a clean, safe and shear limitless source of energy. To establish that the machine, which will be finished in ten years at a cost of about 4.7 billion Euro, should generate 500 Megawatt of fusion power, while only 50 Megawatt is needed to confine and heat the fuel. The first work at the construction site in Cadarache, France has already started at the beginning of this year.
Article in the Chinese newspaper "People's Daily": http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6270835.html.