India to join international nuclear fusion reactor project

Mumbai: India will join the $6.8-billion international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER), saying it would be a clean source for the country''s soaring energy needs.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the union cabinet chaired by prime minister Manmohan Singh.

The meeting also decided to set up an empowered board by the governing council of the Institute for Plasma Research for its effective implementation, information and broadcasting minister P R Dasmunsi said after the meeting.

New Delhi would contribute $620 million (Rs2,500 crore) for the ITER project, an ambitious global plan to build an advanced nuclear fusion reactor - a deal for which was signed by more than 30 countries last year. The deal also involves a foreign exchange component calculated at Rs1,129 crore.

Construction of the 500-MW reactor, to be based near the Southern French city of Marseille, is estimated top cost about $6.8 billion and take 10 years to complete. Another $7 billion will be needed to operate it over a 20-year period.

The objective of ITER is to demonstrate the feasibility of producing electricity from a fusion reaction, which involves fusing atomic nuclei at extremely high temperatures inside a giant electromagnetic ring.

ITER would be a cleaner source than existing nuclear reactors and also a cheaper and abundant source of energy. But critics say it could be at least 50 years before a commercially viable reactor is built, if at all.