A northern village is in the running for a multinational fusion project.

`If researchers come to Aomori, the impression of outsiders will change.' MITSUO HAYASHI President of the Aomori chamber of commerce

A village in Japan's northern snow country could become the home of a roiling cauldron of power to rival the sun. How hot would it get? Somewhere above 100 million degrees.

Rokkasho, in Aomori Prefecture, is one of two candidates for an international fusion project. It is also the site of a facility now under construction to reprocess spent nuclear fuel so plutonium can be extracted and used in the nation's nuclear-fuel recycling program.

The other candidate to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is Cadarache in France, which was chosen by the European Union in November.

Nuclear fusion is considered a dream energy source because it would use fuel and materials that are fairly abundant. A nuclear fusion reactor could not operate on a commercial basis until the end of the century, experts say.

Theoretically, one gram of fusion fuel will produce the same energy as eight tons of petroleum. The goal of the ITER project is more modest: to produce more than 10 times the energy used and to maintain nuclear fusion continuously-for more than five minutes.

-Still the operation will have to cope with extraordinary levels of energy. About 500,000 kilowatts of electricity will be needed. Part of the problem, then, will be to harness all that power-enough to rip apart atoms and vaporize their cores.

The solution will be a tokamak-style vacuum container shaped like a doughnut. Its outer diameter will be about 20 meters.

Superconducting magnetic coils will confine and heat the fuel, deuterium and tritium, to temperatures above 100 million degrees. At that temperature, the fuel becomes a plasma, in which atomic nuclei and electrons are separated.

The site to host the ITER is expected to be selected at a ministerial meeting set for Dec. 20 in Washington, D.C. Victory, however, will come at a price, with the finalist contributing the lion's share of about 300 billion yen for construction and equipment.

The total cost for all participants is expected to reach 1.3 trillion yen over the 20-year life of the project. The budget was decided in Dec. 4-5 negotiations in Vienna. ITER members are Japan, the EU, Russia, Canada, the United States, China and South Korea.

Japan's delegation was headed by Akio Yuki, deputy technology minister.

International negotiations to pick the construction site, as well as participants in operating the ITER facility, got under way in November 2001. Japan offered Rokkasho as a candidate in May 2002.

The selection of the construction site will be made through a vote of the seven members.

Science and technology ministry officials have been lobbying their counterparts in China and South Korea to back Japan. However, an official with the Cabinet Office said China appears to be leaning toward France, but Russia may back Japan.

Other government officials said they hoped lingering ill will between the United States and France over the war in Iraq will work in Tokyo's favor.

Aomori business circles are keen for Rokkasho to win.

``If advanced technology and researchers come to Aomori, which has a negative image as being at the end of the northern part of Honshu, the impression of outsiders toward us will change,'' said Mitsuo Hayashi, president of the Federation of Aomori Prefecture Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Construction of the experimental reactor will cost about 570 billion yen and take about a decade to complete. In addition, about 600 billion yen will be needed to operate and maintain the facility during its life span.

Canada said it cannot pay its share, which leaves financing to the other six members. The United States, China, Russia and South Korea will pay 10 percent each.

The winner of the construction site contest, either Japan or France, will pay about 48 percent and the loser the rest.

In addition to construction, the winner will pay all costs for equipment: price tag about 90 billion yen.

Expenses will also be incurred for improving roads to the facility and housing and schools for foreign researchers and their families.

The Cabinet approved the Rokkasho candidate on condition no special fiscal measures would be implemented. That means the budget for other science and technology projects will have to be cut.

Among the projects that could be affected are the high-intensity proton accelerator under construction jointly by the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization and the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI).(IHT/Asahi: December 12,2003) (12/12)