§ Mr. Frank CookTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy (1) whether he proposes to take any action with regard to future funding and support in relation to research in nuclear fusion, on the conclusions of ETSU-R43; what assessment he has made of the extent to which the joint European Torus project provides value for money; and what is his assessment of the prospects for commercial power from nuclear fusion within the next 70 years;
(2) whether he intends to seek independent advice, in addition to that from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, on the next stage of research funding for nuclear fusion, the next European Torus; whether he will make it his policy to publish any future evaluation of fusion research; whether he will sponsor a conference on the subject; and whether he will make a statement;
(3) if he will seek to obtain for his departmental library a copy of the recently published assessment of nuclear fusion sponsored by the European Parliament and produced by the Centre for Energy Studies at South Bank polytechnic; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael SpicerETSU report, R43, is a document providing background information and, as such, has been available in my Department and influenced continuing decisions on the funding of fusion research for some time. We are currently considering with Euratom partners a proposal to extend to 1992 the life of the joint European Torus project at Culham, which is the only device in the world intended for sustained experiments on deuterium-tritium plasma. Given the need to demonstrate operating reliability of any plant over a number of years, it is unlikely that fusion power will be commercially available before the middle of the next century.
The next decision needed on the next European Torus will be whether to proceed to detailed engineering design. It is common ground between the United Kingdom and its partners that such a decision cannot be made before 1990 or without an independent evaluation of the Community fusion programme. Advice will be needed from many different sources. My Department has seen the interim report by the Centre for Energy Studies, which was prepared for the European Parliament's committee on energy research and technology.