India's inclusion in the prestigious International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is now almost certain with India being asked today to complete the formalities by providing an official request to join the programme. This was decided at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna today at a high-level meeting of the ITER’s Preparatory Committee, comprising representatives from the US, European Union, China, Japan, Korea and Russia. India was invited as an observer to the meeting. The committee, which is the highest body in the multilateral fusion research project, examined the report of the negotiations in Chengdu last month as well as that of the joint exploratory team that had visited India. All participants were in favour of India joining the project as the preparatory committee ‘‘encouraged India to take the next step towards accession by providing a letter to the parties officially requesting to join ITER.’’ The international ITER team will now work with India to ‘‘review the necessary adjustments’’ to be made to the contributions earlier agreed to by the member countries on the responsibilities for procuring components. India was represented by P.K. Kaw, Director of the Institute for Plasma Research in Ahmedabad. India had first expressed interest in joining ITER through a letter on July 11 by Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission. He had said India was looking to make a substantial contribution in kind, given its own research in the area of fusion technology. Helping India becoming part of the ITER project was one of the commitments Washington had made in the July 18 Indo-US joint statement. The willingness on the part of member countries to include India is being seen as a major step towards ending Indian isolation from cutting edge nuclear research under way in the world. New Delhi is also keen to join the US-led Generation-IV reactor programme. After Kakodkar’s letter — sent just before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington — which laid out India’s case, the ITER member states met in September at Cadarche, France, and decided to send a joint exploratory team to India. The team was here in early October and visited sites where research related to fusion reactors is being carried out. This report was presented at Chengdu, where member countries discussed the prospect of India joining the project. But the decision was held back for today’s meeting.
