HC Deb 04 July 1988 vol 136 c423W
32. Mr. Wallace

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy what are his future plans for funding the research and development of fusion, in the light of recent statements by the European Parliament's scientific and technical options assessment unit.

Mr. Michael Spicer

The United Kingdom is making a major contribution to the Community fusion programme, including the joint European torus project at Culham, whose life is to be extended to 1992. It is common ground between the United Kingdom and its partners that any decision on whether to proceed to a detailed engineering design (next European Torus) cannot be made before 1990 or without a thorough independent evaluation of the Community fusion programme.