ITER 58% complete, on track for 2025

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the world's largest experimental fusion facility, is 58% complete, and is on track for generating first light by 2025, a senior official associated with the project, said.

India is among the seven members of ITER, which is taking shape in France, and aims to demonstrate that it is possible to produce commercial energy from fusion. India has committed to contributing 9% towards the project, which would amount to Rs10,000 crore or so. The other members of ITER are US, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and European Union.

"We are more than halfway to First Plasma according to stringent metrics that measure ITER project performance. Thirty-six milestones met so far, many challenges and potential delays mitigated. Critical path remains on schedule for First Plasma in 2025," ITER director general Bernard Bigot, said at the 27th Fusion Energy Conference of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which commenced in Gandhinagar today.

The start of deuterium-tritium operation or full fusion power at ITER will be in 2035, he said further.

As its contribution to the project, India is responsible for Cryostat, in-wall shielding, cooling water system, Cryogenic system, ion-cyclotron RF heating system, electron cyclotron RF heating system, diagnostic neutral beam system, power supplies, and some of the diagnostics.

"India is performing very well, and is one of the most advanced (among the members) in delivery. The Cryostat is already at the site," Bigot said.

Shishir Deshpande, project director of ITER-India, said that of the total loads for the project, "40% have come from India".

L&T, Kirloskar Brothers, Inox, TCS, TCE, Vacuum Techniques, and ECIL are some of the companies involved in ITER project. While L&T is involved in construction and heavy engineering, Kirloskar is supplying pumps, and ECIL high voltage power systems.

The Fusion Energy Conference takes place every two years, and this is the first time it is taking place in India. It represents largest gathering of researchers and experts working in plasma science and technologies relevant to controlled nuclear fusion. More than 650 participants from 46 countries are taking part in the conference.

Speaking at the conference's inauguration, former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Dr R Chidambaram, described fusion technology as the rising source for global energy security.

"Nuclear can be considered near-renewable. We are discussing fission, but near-renewable factor will increase much if we have fusion. I see fusion as an essential and attractive fuel option if the technology can be mastered," he said, adding that there was no other new energy source on the horizon.

Institute of Plasma Research, the nodal agency for ITER in India, said that the reactions in which nuclei of hydrogen isotopes fuse together and produce energy are considered to be a clear, abundant, and safe source of energy for the future.

"The challenge before the fusion community is to hold a sufficient dense and hot plasma (a collection of electrons and ions) for a sufficiently long time to obtain net power output," it said.

Experts at the conference said that tapping nuclear fusion energy is a must for India, which has a huge population, and large energy requirement. The mainstay of power generation in India are coal-fired power plants, though solar and wind are also being increasingly tapped. However, their potential is much lower than projected demand, and there are also concerns over their intermittent availability.