The bitter struggle to win the right to host the international research station, a multi-billion-euro project designed to emulate the power of the Sun, began in earnest in June 2002 with the announcement of the official candidates.

Yet before the prestigious ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) began dividing its major partners, it had already divided some in Europe.

The eventual winner announced on Tuesday - the southern French town of Cadarache - only won out as the EU candidate of choice in November 2003, faced against the Vandellos site in Spain.

But the real infighting over what is one of the most exciting ventures in world science was conducted at a broader level last autumn.

At the end of 2003, the six ITER partners - the EU, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea and China - had essentially divided into two camps and talks had ground to a halt.

By the third quarter of last year, the EU let it be known that it planned to forge ahead without some of its partners, if necessary.

Brussels came out in support of Cadarache, backed by China and Russia. Tokyo, meanwhile with the support of the United States and South Korea, rallied behind the Rokkasho-mura site in northeast Japan.

After further talks broke down at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna in November, the European Commission won a mandate from EU members to allow the site to open in Cadarache with as many partners as possible.

At the same time France, pushing for a quick decision, suggested that it was willing to double its financial contribution to the project, which has a planned budget of 10 billion euros (13 billion dollars) over the next 30 years.

Tensions rose as Tokyo denounced the European methods.

To improve relations, the EU said it wanted to move forward with all its partners, and Japan was invited to host spin-off projects under a "privileged partnership".

The Commission proposed that a "JT60" super-reactor and a research centre for analysis of fusion-related materials be built in Japan to feed the project.

Then in May, in the middle of a campaign on the EU constitution, President Jacques Chirac affirmed that France was about to win its bid to host ITER at Cadarache, surprising even the commission and clearly annoying Tokyo.

With around six weeks to go before decision time, the EU fell silent leaving Tokyo to reflect on its position on the project, which is not expected to be operational before 2050.

Then, last week, the government told the EU that it would give up on hosting the revolutionary nuclear reactor after securing large deals in return for agreeing to give it up to France.

Under Tuesday's agreement, 50 percent of the cost of the project will be paid by the EU, with the rest shared out between the five other partners in what is being painted now as a win-win deal.

"We managed to secure a status that amounts to being a secondary host of the project ... This and other conditions should allow us to preserve our national interests completely," Japan's Science Minister Nariaki Nakyama said.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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