The head of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project organization is expected to be Japanese, because the parties involved have agreed to support a candidate to be recommended by Japan, the science and technology ministry said Tuesday.
Representatives from China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the United States and the European Union reached the agreement Monday during a working-level meeting in Cadarache, southern France, according to officials of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.
Japan plans to select the candidate for director general of the organization by the end of the year, they said.
Japan and the European Union earlier agreed that the European Union will support Japan's candidate in exchange for Japan's giving up its bid to host of the world's first nuclear fusion reactor, they said.