The European Commission (EC), the executive body of the European Union (EU), welcomed on Tuesday the result that France was chosen to host the world's first nuclear fusion reactor.

In a press release e-mailed to Brussels-based journalists, the commission said the six partners of the 12-billion-US-dollar project for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) , China, the United States, the EU, Japan, Russia and South Korea, decided in Moscow on Tuesday that ITER would be located at Cadarache in southern France, the site proposed by the EU.

"Today we are making history in terms of international scientific cooperation," said EC Commissioner on science and research Janez Potocnik in a written declaration.

"This decision today demonstrates the recognition of the parties concerned that working together is the best way to find responses to the challenges faced by all of us," he said.

Looking ahead, he urged all parties to "make all efforts to finalize the agreement on the project, so that construction can begin as soon as possible."

Unlike fission reactors used in existing nuclear power stations, which release energy by splitting atoms apart, ITER, began in 1985, would generate energy by combining them.

However, decades of research have yet to produce a commercially viable fusion reactor. ITER is technically ready for construction and the first plasma operation is expected in 2015.

France, representing the EU, and Japan have wrangled for months over where to build the reactor, proposing their candidate sites, Cadarache in France and Rokkasho-mura in Japan, respectively.

Source: Xinhua