India to sign ITER agreement in Brussels

Besides India, the other ITER partners are the EU, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and the US.

High level representatives of India and its six partners in the International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor (ITER) will meet in Brussels on May 24 to finalise an agreement to establish the ITER fusion energy project.

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Besides India, the other ITER partners are the EU, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and the US. The project, which is to be built in Cadarache, France, is an international collaborative research project by the seven countries that together represent more than half the world's population.

On the Indian side, the ITER signature ceremony will be attended by Anil Kakodkar, secretary in the Department of Atomic Energy and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, PK Kaw, director of the Institute for Plasma Research, and RB Grover, director of the Strategic Planning Group in the Department of Atomic Energy.

The project is expected to produce nuclear fusion energy in conditions that will demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion as an energy source.

"Fusion has several attractions as a large-scale energy source," said a press release by the European Commission prior to the event.

It noted that fusion energy had many advantages such as the availability of basic fuels, no greenhouse gas emissions, inherently safe power stations free of possible "meltdowns" or "runaway reactions" and long-lasting radioactive waste, according to INEP agency.