Japan and the European Union said Tuesday they would try to agree by July where to build an experimental fusion reactor offering the potential for clean energy, and were discussing the project's potential commercial future as a way to resolve their main differences. Both Japan and the EU are vying to host the US$13 billion (¤10 billion) International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor and held talks in recent months. The project is being funded by a consortium comprised of Japan, the United States, South Korea, Russia, China and the EU. The six, however, are divided over where to locate the reactor. On Tuesday, Janez Potocnik, EU science and research commissioner, said Japan and the EU were "converging toward a common understanding" that could be approved by all involved in the project. After an hourlong talk with Japan's Education, Science and Technology Minister Nariaki Nakayama, Potocnik said the two sides would "aim at reaching an international agreement among six parties ... we believe, before July." "We both agreed that we need to speed up the talks," said Potocnik, who is in Tokyo for a three-day visit. Nakayama later said that Japan and the EU want a pact by the next summit of the Group of Eight industrialized countries, scheduled for July in Scotland.
