Q. India is an important member of the ‘International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor’. If this experiment succeeds, what is the immediate advantage of India?

  • It can use thorium in place of uranium for power generation.
  • It can attain a global role in satellite navigation
  • It can drastically improve the efficiency of its fission reactors in power generation
  • It can build fusion reactors for power generation

Answer: (d) It can build fusion reactors for power generation

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)
  • International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is an international collaborative project for advancing magnetic fusion that includes 35 countries – the United States, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Russian Federation, and the European Union, launched in 1985.
    • It is located in France.
  • It will not produce any electricity; instead, ITER will resolve the critical scientific and technical issues to take fusion to the point where industrial applications can be envisioned.
  • The project is based on fusion which is also an energy source for the Sun and stars.
    • Every fusion reaction in the Sun, in which two hydrogen atoms fuse into one helium atom, releases two neutrinos.
  • It aims to build the world’s largest tokamak to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy.
    • The tokamak is an experimental machine designed to harness the energy of fusion. Inside a tokamak, the energy produced through the fusion of atoms is absorbed as heat in the walls of the vessel. Like a conventional power plant, a fusion power plant uses this heat to produce steam and then electricity by way of turbines and generators.
  • Objectives of ITER:
    • To investigate and demonstrate burning Plasma (Self-heating plasma)
      • In a burning plasma, heat from the fusion is confined within the plasma itself efficiently enough for self-heating.
      • ITER is the first burning plasma device in the world.
    • To attain fusion gain of more than 10 for a longer duration of 400 to 600 seconds
      • It intends to deliver ten times more thermal power (500 MW) than injected power heating systems (50 MW), thus attaining a gain factor of at least 10.
      • Fusion gain (Q) is the measure of the ratio between the power produced by the fusion reactions and the external heating power that must be injected in a tokamak to sustain the reactions.
    • Test tritium breeding
      • The validity of tritium breeding module concepts that would lead in a future reactor to tritium self-sufficiency by producing tritium from lithium (lithium isotope Li-6).
    • Demonstrate the safety characteristics of a fusion device
    • Contribute to the demonstration of the integrated operation of technologies for a fusion power plant.
  • Significance of ITER:
    • Of all the magnetic confinement technology (tokamaks and stellarators), ITER is the most advanced version. The various significance of the ITER are as follows:
      • Energy for the future: ITER is the experimental bridge between today’s fusion machines, focused on and tomorrow’s power plants based on nuclear fusion, the energy without GHG emission (Fossil fuels) and radiation (Fission reactor).
      • Longevity: In the last 60 years of research on harnessing fusion energy, this is the first time that we have reached the threshold of “burning plasma”. Once successful, the longevity of tokamak will be up to 400 to 600 seconds, which is much more than the current scenario.
      • Sustainability: ITER aims to ensure a higher Fusion gain (Q) of more than 10, which increases its potential for sustainability.
      • Study of plasma physics: The success of ITER will further encourage the pursuance of the study of Plasma physics which will add another dimension to plasma-based technology.