Spiraling Costs Threaten International Fusion Reactor Project

[Javaman]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,696922,00.html

Need for Fresh Cash

Originally, the futuristic reactor was supposed to cost around €5 billion ($6.15 billion). That was the figure given in 2006 when the participating partners -- the European Union member states, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States -- agreed to fund the project. The Europeans were supposed to shoulder 40 percent of the costs, with the remaining partners taking on 9 percent each. But a recent estimate by the European Commission has revealed that the total costs have already tripled to €15 billion, as a result of higher raw material prices and new safety requirements, among other expenses.

The Europeans alone would have to provide €7.2 billion, and further increases in costs cannot be ruled out. But where is the money supposed to come from? Officials in Brussels have drawn up two scenarios: Either member states must inject fresh cash directly, or the EU's research budget will have to be increased by the required amount. Ideally, the eurocrats would like to have a kind of blank check, whereby member states would already guarantee to cover additional future costs.

Each of the scenarios would mean a sharp increase in Germany's contribution, which could reach as much as €1 billion, instead of the originally agreed €540 million. Now Germany's research minister, Annette Schavan, has spoken out against the burgeoning costs. "It's normal for research projects to have increases in costs, but a rise of 300 percent is unusual and not acceptable," Schavan said Wednesday at a meeting of EU research ministers in Brussels.

"ITER is a very important project for Europe," Schavan stressed, adding that the project could not be put at risk for that reason. She called for greater transparency: "We need different management, and we need a clear outlook."