India, EU likely to sign civil atomic energy pact

India is expected to sign a civil atomic energy pact with European Union during an upcoming summit here, a step that will mark its formal participation in the ambitious multi-country International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.

"We should expect an agreement on civil atomic energy and specially in the field of fusion and that is the agreement which is supporting the participation of India to the international project called ITER," EU Ambassador to India Danielle Smadja told reporters here while briefing on the summit.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh will hold summit talks with his Swedish counterpart Fredrik Reinfeldt whose country is the current chair of the 27-nation EU.

Noting that India is already part of the project, Smadja said the agreement will mark its formal participation in the ambitious venture which targets to generate nuclear energy equivalent to that of the Sun.

The ambitious project, to be based in Cadarache in France at an estimated to cost about 4.6 billion euro ($5.4 billion or Rs25,000 crore), involves the US, European Union, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.