OREANDA-NEWS. July 30, 2010. Seven participants of the project of construction of ITER international experimental nuclear fusion reactor – EU, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA – reached an agreement on the project implementation period and financing details.

The project “baseline” was accepted during the special ITER meeting, held in Kandarash nuclear research centre (Bouches-du-Rhфne Department), where the reactor is to be constructed. According to the agency, the reactor’s construction will start this summer.

The EU confirmed that it will invest in the project 6.6 billion euros, taking into account that its interest will be about 50%. In the beginning the EU planned to invest 2.7 billion euros.

The parties also agreed that the first attempt to perform the hydrogen atom fusion reaction will be carried in November, 2019. During the meeting there was also carried a replacement of the project director: instead of Japanese Kaname Ikeda the ITER will be headed by his compatriot Osamu Motojima.

The ITER project will be the first attempt to produce electric power by means of a thermonuclear reaction which takes place in the Sun – a hydrogen nuclear fusion reaction. In case of success it will give to mankind a really inexhaustible power source.

The agreement on the plant construction was signed in 2006. The European countries shall invest about 50% of the project, Russia’s equity contribution is to be about 10% of the total amount. It will be invested in the form of high-tech equipment. The construction, which was primarily evaluated at 5 billion euros, was to be implemented in 2016. But gradually the estimated expense amount was increased and the project implementation period was prolonged.