ROME, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Fincantieri has been awarded an order worth almost 100 million euros (about 111 million U.S. dollars) to provide high-profile equipment as part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project to build a nuclear fusion reactor, the Italian shipbuilding company said in a statement Monday.

Nuclear fusion, the process which powers the sun and the stars, releases huge amounts of energy by fusing together light atoms, such as hydrogen, at extremely high pressures and temperatures.

Based in France, the ITER Project is a globe-spanning collaboration of 35 nations. Its members have combined resources to conquer one of the greatest frontiers in science -- reproducing on Earth the boundless energy that fuels the Sun and the stars.

Its scientists and engineers are trying to develop fusion reactors that will, in theory, produce enough clean, renewable energy to sustain the entire planet.

Fincantieri will participate through subsidiaries that operate in plant design and industrial electrical, electronic and electromechanical components, mechanical plant engineering, and electrical plant engineering, the company said.

"This order of extraordinary international importance is a testament to the reputation we have been capable of earning in every field," Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono commented. Enditem

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