Cadarache (France), July 24 (TIWN) The upcoming $25 billion plasma-based fusion reactor ITER, in which India is a partner, is the hope to energy freedom and also a solution to the world that is gripped with a threat to survival primarily by the use of fossil energy and fast depleting conventional energy

These were the views expressed by former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, Anil Kakodkar, who was at his maiden visit on Tuesday to ITER facility being built in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, some 35km north of Aix-en-Provence in southern France.   

India is one of the seven partners, both in-kind and in-cash, in a first-of-a-kind global collaboration.   Talking to IANS on the sidelines of an event to mark India achieving a significant milestone in fabrication of the world's largest high-vacuum chamber -- crucial cryostat -- that is now ready for installation, Kakodkar, 76, said fusion energy has the potential to provide abundant energy supply sustainably, avoiding climate change concerns.