Crunch Time, Again, on Fusion Project.

A $10 billion effort to harness energy from nuclear fusion was teetering on a knife edge earlier this week after another deadlocked meeting of its six international partners. Since last December, the six — China, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the U.S. — have been split over whether to build the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor at Rokkasho in Japan or Cadarache in France. After 2 decades of preparation for the grand experiment, which aims to reproduce the sun's furnace here on Earth, a decision on the site was expected by the end of 2003. But with the E.U. and Japan equally determined to play host, more technical studies were carried out, followed by a series of meetings exploring a "broader" fusion research program with other facilities that would speed the move to commercial reactors and could be sited in the nation that does not get to host the tokamak.