Further discussions took place on Saturday as part of negotiations between the participants in the ITER Transitional Arrangements with a view to reaching a decision on the ITER construction site. They released the following common message:

"Delegations from China, European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, and the United States met at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna on 21st February, 2004 to advance the ITER negotiations.

The delegations recognised the intensive work done following the Ministerial Meeting for ITER that took place on 20th December 2003.

The delegations agreed to convene a meeting of experts in early March for a joint appreciation in common terms of a number of key topics, in order to bring the further technical analysis to completion.

ITER Parties will continue their discussions including further exploration of a broader project approach to fusion power.

All delegations reaffirmed their commitment to the consensual process towards joint implementation of ITER."

Previous versions of this "What's New" page are also available:

• Canada leaves ITER - January 7th, 2004.
• Deadlock on site decision - December 20th, 2003.
• Cadarache selected as European candidate site - November 26th, 2003.
• Status of Negotiations - November 3rd, 2003.
• Korea joins ongoing negotiations - June 16th, 2003.
• Eighth Negotiators Meeting - February 20th, 2003.
• US announces joining ITER negotiations - February 3rd, 2003.
• China applies to join ITER - January 24th, 2003.
• Seventh Negotiators Meeting - December 16th, 2002.

As always, regular reports on the progress of ITER are given in the IAEA ITER Newsletter.

Further general news about fusion (with a US emphasis).

updated February 21st, 2004