France's bid to house the plant comes a day after President George W. Bush said the United States would join the ITER project, which is aimed at harnessing the power of fusion - the energy source that powers the sun.

Britain, other European Union countries, Russia, China, Japan and Canada are already working together on the project, which is distinct from ordinary fission reactors as it aims to produce a clean and safe source of energy using fusion.

"If we succeed, this is the solution to all our problems and we'll no longer need to go to war in Iraq," a source close to the project said, adding that it would be conducted over 40-50 years.

Bush said last week he hoped safe, renewable fusion energy could be commercially available by the middle of the century.

France is one of the few countries to have shifted away from oil for its energy needs. The world's second-largest nuclear power producer after the United States, it has the highest concentration of nuclear power production, which covers 80 percent of its output.