Japan will announce on June 28 that it is giving up on hosting a revolutionary nuclear energy project also sought by France after a long deadlock in negotiations, a newspaper reported Friday.

Japan will drop its bid at a meeting in Russia of the six partners in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) — China, the European Union, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said in its evening edition.

An official at the science ministry denied the report, saying Japan was doing its utmost to bring the multibillion-dollar project to the northern village of Rokkasho-mura.

“We are doing our best in preparation for the international conference to be held in late June,” the official told AFP.

Japan dispatched an envoy to the European Union earlier this week to conduct negotiations on ITER which again ended in a standoff.

The Nihon Keizai said Japan concluded after the Brussels meeting that the European Union was determined to bring ITER to the southeastern French town of Cadarache.

Read the complete article: Japan to Announce June 28 Giving Up Nuclear Reactor Bid: Report (The Tocqueville Connection)