BRUSSELS, Nov 26 (AFP) - EU research ministers on Wednesday chose France to host an ambitious project to replicate the Sun's nuclear fusion, beating a Spanish bid, diplomats said.

The southern French town of Cadarache in southern France had been bidding against Vandellos in Spain to host the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).

Canada and Japan are also pitching for the 4.5-billion-euro project, which will seek to replicate the kind of nuclear fusion seen in the Sun to deliver clean energy from hydrogen.

Project partners, which include the EU, Japan, the United States, Canada, China, Russia and South Korea, are expected to announce their chosen site for the reactor at a Washington meeting next month.