  This report contains two parts: (1) A list of "points" highlighting the
strategic-political and military-technical reasons and implications of the very
probable siting of ITER (the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)
in Japan, which should be confirmed sometimes in early 2004. (2) A technical
analysis of the nuclear weapons proliferation implications of inertial- and
magnetic-confinement fusion systems substantiating the technical points
highlighted in the first part, and showing that while full access to the
physics of thermonuclear weapons is the main implication of ICF, full access to
large-scale tritium technology is the main proliferation impact of MCF. The
conclusion of the report is that siting ITER in a country such as Japan, which
already has a large separated-plutonium stockpile, and an ambitious
laser-driven ICF program (comparable in size and quality to those of the United
States or France), will considerably increase its latent (or virtual) nuclear
weapons proliferation status, and foster further nuclear proliferation
throughout the world.
