The EU has chosen Cadarache as its preferred location for ITER. Protracted discussions over the European choice were in danger of placing the complete negotiating schedule of the Parties in jeopardy. However at a European Council of Ministers meeting today, agreement was reached on the European preference of Cadarache, along with the agreement to locate the administrative HQ of the European branch of the project team in Spain. The EU proposal now goes forward to the other Participants for their consideration, with a view to reaching overall agreement on the site, cost sharing, and project leadership, by the end of the year. This agreement is expected to be prepared at a meeting in Vienna in early December, and documented in a political level meeting in Washington just before Christmas.

The ninth meeting of the Negotiators (N9) took place in Beijing on 5-11th November. This reviewed the ongoing work and determined what remained to be finalised. It also fleshed out the remaining timetable of negotiations, with the key decisions (referred to above) being agreed by the end of the 2003, and further meetings finalising the details of the agreement up to April 2004. This should allow the ITER Organisation to start work in late 2004.

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

• 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 November 26th, 2003