The Science Council of Japan has established both a committee and technology working group to reevaluate the revised ILC plan (Chair Yasuhiro Iye, Director of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)), and they met for their 7th meeting on October 10th in Tokyo. Experts were in attendance to talk about the scientific significance of the project and measures to deal with water drainage from the underground tunnel.

Eight committee members and seven working group members were in attendance. Professor emeritus Hiroshi Hosoda of Osaka University, and Prof. Shinichiro Michizono, a director at the KEK physics laboratory, were there as experts who could give reference information.

Prof. Michizono talked about how they would deal with water drainage from the underground tunnel. Prof. Hosoda detailed why it was important to be able to precisely measure the Higgs coupling (with the ILC). One question from the members was, “What is the effect on the particle physics field if the ILC is not built?”

There were also discussions that were closed to the public. Following the meeting, Committee Chair Yasuhiro Iye (Director of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) said, “We have started to write our report, and we confirmed the points where our members have gotten a consensus. We still haven’t reached an overall direction.” He also explained, “A very important point is getting the people of Japan to understand and agree to the enormous budget required to build the ILC. Some of our questions have been answered adequately, but there are some things still unclear.”

Their next meeting will be held within the month. It will be closed to the public, and include hearings from experts.