Washington

Chinese officials are set to meet with negotiators from the European Union, Japan, Russia and Canada in Tokyo to discuss possible involvement in ITER — formerly the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor — which many believe is the next step in developing fusion power.

Officials at the Chinese ministry for science and technology have written to senior negotiators in each of the four ITER member states to express a “strong interest” in Chinese participation, says Paul Vandenplas, emeritus professor of the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, Belgium, and part of the European Union's negotiating team.

Vandenplas says that China would like to become a full partner in the US$4-billion collaboration. This would require China to contribute about $100 million per year in cash or equipment.

The Tokyo meeting will take place just after an official site-negotiation meeting in Rokkasho, Japan, at the end of this month. Vandenplas says that ITER's member states will provide China with information about the project and will informally discuss China's participation in negotiations.

China has a small but growing fusion programme, and officials — including the country's president, Jiang Zemin — have recently shown increasing interest in the field, says David Baldwin, head of fusion research at General Atomics in San Diego, California. “People who have visited Chinese laboratories are very impressed with the depth of knowledge,” he adds.

US government officials have declared that the United States plans to rejoin ITER, which it left in 1999 (see Nature 417, 676; 200210.1038/417676a) but no official announcement has been made.