Public debate on ITER in Provence

Following the ITER site decision on 28 June 2005, the independent Commission Nationale de Debat Public (CNDP) in France decided to have a public debate on 'ITER en Provence'. This is a procedure enshrined in French law since 2002 for all new projects constructed in France with significant social and environmental impact. A Commission Particuliere (CPDP) was formed to organise the debate. This independent commission was chaired by Mr Patrick Legrand (researcher at INRA and former president of France Nature Environnement) and had 6 other independent members as well as its own permanent secretariat. Information on the organisation and terms of reference is available on the CPDP's website. Four general information meetings were organised in surrounding centres of population: Ste Tulle (2 February), Avignon (9 February) and Nice (16 February), and Gap (30 March). While the meeting in Ste Tulle was also disturbed by demonstrators; the meetings in Avignon and Nice were held in a friendly and calm atmosphere. Nearly 600 questions were posed by the public, using the different means at their disposal. In total more than 2500 people participated at the different public meetings and more than 300 questions were asked during these meetings. A further 250 questions were posed on the web site. Around twenty individual contributions were also published on the web site as well as 9 so-called 'Cahiers d'acteurs'. The conclusions of the project owner have been published in the Official French Journal on 10 October 20063. In the letter sent to the president of the CNDP accompanying the official response Nominee DG Ikeda expressed: We share the opinion of the CPDP and CNDP in terms of the necessity and value of the debate. We are pleased that all players had the opportunity to both express themselves and be heard. The public debate particularly contributed to defining how ITER - other than through its primary interest - can help improve various regional issues in fields such employment, training and transport infrastructures