By Emily Smith - 22nd December 2003
A decision on where to build a key nuclear research plant has been delayed until after Christmas.
Governments have failed to come to an agreement on where to locate the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (known as ITER)
The decision, due to be taken in Washington last week, has now been postponed until February.
The two favoured sites are said to be Rokkasho in Japan and Cadarache in France, who have seen off stiff opposition from Canada.
To the surprise of many, Cadarache was chosen as the EU candidate over a site in Spain this November.
ITER builds on research into nuclear fusion that has been going on in Oxfordshire, England, since the 1970s.
Nuclear fusion may, in a few decades time, offer a solution to a potential global energy crisis.
Fusion produces far less radioactive waste than nuclear fission - the current source of nuclear power - and so provides an attractive long-term option.
The basic materials needed for its generation are in plentiful supply, and fusion reactors would not produce fissile materials that could be used in nuclear weapons.
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