India is considering taking part in the ambitious international project to develop a nuclear fusion reactor, billed as a clean and inexhaustible source of energy, an official said on Sunday.
V S Ramamurthy, secretary in the science and technology ministry, said India, which declared itself a nuclear power in 1998, found the fusion project "interesting."
"The government will be considering it," Ramamurthy said, noting that India had abundant skilled labour to work on a hi-tech project.
The Hindu newspaper reported that Ramamurthy discussed the reactor plan last week in New Delhi with the visiting chief science adviser to the British government, David King.
The report said King suggested that India could be a "junior partner" to reduce its financial contribution to the $10 billion project.
Ramamurthy said on Sunday that if India joined the effort it would have to contribute around "several billion rupees."
Ramamurthy acknowledged there would be a "political" dimension to Indian participation.
The nuclear fusion project is a collaboration by the European Union, Russia, China, the United States, South Korea and Japan.
Two sites, the French town of Cadarache and the northern Japanese village of Rokkasho-mura, are vying to host the nuclear fusion reactor, which would be operational in 2014.