But Japan has not yet responded to the suggestion to end the row over the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which has been billed as a test bed for a safe and inexhaustible energy source for the future.

"The EU has spared no effort and has made an offer to Japan that in all respects is comparable to the Japanese proposal," said EU research commissioner Janez Potocnik,

"I have proposed to our Japanese partners to sit together and find an acceptable compromise at a high political level. For the sake of fusion development. This suggestion has not yet been taken up."

Japan and France are vying to host the multi-billion dollar project, one of the most exciting ventures in international science.

But talks among the six parties involved are deadlocked: the United States and South Korea support Japan's offer to build ITER in Rokkasho-mura, a northern Japanese village near the Pacific Ocean, while the EU, China and Russia back France's bid for it to be based in Cadarache, southern France.

ITER, which would emulate the sun's nuclear fusion, is not expected to generate inexhaustible supplies of electricity before 2050.

The budget for ITER is projected to be 10 billion euros (13 billion dollars) over the next 30 years, including 4.7 billion euros to build the reactor alone.

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