[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 5 (Monday, February 3, 2003)]
[Page 134]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Joining the International Thermonuclear Experimental 
Reactor Collaboration

January 30, 2003

    I am pleased to announce that the United States will join ITER, an 
ambitious international research project to harness the promise of 
fusion energy. The results of ITER will advance the effort to produce 
clean, safe, renewable, and commercially available fusion energy by the 
middle of this century. Commercialization of fusion has the potential to 
dramatically improve America's energy security while significantly 
reducing air pollution and emissions of greenhouse gases.
    The United States will be working with the United Kingdom, other 
European Union nations, Russia, China, Japan, and Canada on the creation 
of ITER. Today, I am directing the Secretary of Energy to represent the 
United States at the upcoming ITER meetings in St. Petersburg, Russia. 
We welcome the opportunity to work with our partners to make fusion 
energy a reality.