India to participate in international nuclear-fusion project

Jul 5, 2007, 11:14 GMT

New Delhi - India's federal cabinet Thursday approved the country's participation in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of controlled nuclear fusion as a source of energy.

India will invest Rs. 25 billion (about 612 million dollars) in the project, an official release said.

India's Institute of Plasma Research has been authorized to constitute a board with the powers required for effective implementation of the project, federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

'Considering India's large energy needs in future, our gaining technological capability in fusion energy will be of considerable long-term benefit,' Das Munshi said.

He said participation in the project would allow India to advance its technological capability in fusion energy.

The cost of the ITER reactor, to be built at Cadarache in southern France, is estimated at 5 billion Euros and operating it over 20 years would cost another 5 billion Euros. The reactor is scheduled to be completed by 2018.

The European Union will contribute half the cost of the project while the rest is to be divided equally among the other six partners.

Besides India, they are China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

India, which was accepted as a partner in the project with the strong backing of the US, sees it as recognition of its scientific and technological capability in the area of fusion energy and an acknowledgment that it is a responsible nuclear-capable state.

The ITER project aims to see whether it is practicable to use nuclear fusion to produce electricity in a safe and environmentally friendly way.

Nuclear fusion is a process in which atomic nuclei are forced together, releasing great amounts of energy. The process is viewed as being far more efficient and cleaner than nuclear fission, which is currently used in nuclear power plants.