Scientists have completed the main magnet system for the ITER nuclear fusion project, which will power the core of ITER’s Tokamak reactor.
- India played a key role in building some of its most critical infrastructure, including the massive cryostat cooling systems and heating technologies.
About Tokamak Reactor
- It is an experimental machine designed to harness the energy of fusion.
- Nuclear fusion combines the two light atomic nuclei to form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts of energy.
- It works on a pulsed superconducting electromagnet system.
- First developed by Soviet research in the late 1960s, adopted around the world as the most promising configuration of magnetic fusion devices.
- ITER will be the world's largest tokamak - twice the size of the largest machine currently in operation (JT-60SA in Japan), with six times the plasma chamber volume.
About International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)
- It is an international collaboration of more than 30 countries, located in Southern France.
- ITER Members: China, European Union (through Euratom), India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States.
- Objective: To demonstrate the viability of fusion - the power of the sun and stars - as an abundant, safe, carbon-free energy source for the planet.
- European Union being the host party contributes 45% while the rest of the parties contribute 9% each.
