The Science Council of Japan has established a committee to review the revised ILC plan (chair: Yasuhiro Iye, Director of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), and they met for their 4th meeting on September 11th in Tokyo. There, they sorted out what points to debate going forward, keeping in mind the hearings they have had with related parties thus far.

Eight members attended the closed meeting. According those in attendance, members discussed their current impressions of the scientific significance of the ILC and the technological issues with the accelerator. They also exchanged opinions on what points to concentrate their debate on going forward.

After the meeting, Chair Iye said, “The committee members came up with points of debate regarding a number of different topics, including what things they thought were important and what points they wanted to hear more from the experts about. Our next meeting will be a join meeting with the technology evaluation working group, and we will further sort out our points of debate. If necessary, we will call in the appropriate experts to talk with us.”

The working group will meet on September 13th, where they will hear from experts and sort out the points of debate going forward. They will be a joint meeting between the ILC committee and working group on September 18th.