Japan is bidding against the European Union, which last month chose the southern French town of Cadarache as its candidate to stand against the northern Japanese village of Rokkasho-mura for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.

"We want to compete fairly and squarely to the best of our ability," Hidekazu Tanaka, an official with the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, told AFP recently.

"As this is very important for the energy of the future, we want to make sure our country succeeds," he added.

The Japanese site has many assets: the proximity of a port, a ground of solid bedrock and the close proximity of an American military base which means that Rokkasho-mura has already the services available to accommodate foreign researchers in a comfortable environment.

French competitors have admitted that Japan is a serious candidate for the project.

French junior minister for research and new technology Claudie Haignere called Rokkasho-mura "a quality site" during a recent visit to Tokyo.

"The two countries have more or less the same advantages, namely a strong competence in nuclear fusion and well prepared sites with good transport infrastructure", said Dominique Ochem, nuclear adviser to the French embassy in Japan.

Located in the prefecture of Aomori, in the North-East of the large island of Honshu, Rokkasho-mura's site covers 253 square kilometres (101 square miles) at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

It already houses a 740 hectare (1,800-acre) industrial complex managed by JNFL (Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited), which will include a nuclear reprocessing plant due for completion in July 2006, a center to store vitrified waste, a uranium enrichment factory and a nuclear waste storage facility.

The ITER project would be established on a site near the existing industrial center, in the district of Iyasakatai, on an immediately available area of 70 hectares (compared with 180 hectares in Cadarache), with an additional 70 hectares for use in the event of extension.

"Rokkasho-mura offers many advantages, a stable bedrock, flat ground and the port of Mutsu-Ogawara which can handle cargo of up to 1,000 tons," said the site's official booklet.

However, with Tokyo 700 kilometres (430 miles) away and with a population of only 46 people per square kilometre, Rokkasho-mura is considered by some critics to be in the middle of nowhere.

With heavy snowfall in winter and rainy summers, the major disadvantage of the Japanese site compared to Cadarache is "its lack of attractiveness and its harsh climate," Ochem said.

"The scientists who will settle over there will live in seclusion in a region not blessed with a nice climate. From this point of view, the site does not compare favourably with Provence," he added.

The earthquake risk is also a factor in the decision as "the Japanese already indicated that they would deal with the cost overruns related to the construction of the necessary infrastructure", Ochem said.

But political consideration will weigh heavily on the decision, a French source in Japan told AFP.

"It would seem that the Russians and the Chinese support the European project and that Koreans and Americans today are more in favour of the Japanese candidature."

The EU, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and the United States all hold stakes in the ITER project.

The final decision is due to be made on December 20 in Washington.

WAR.WIRE