India is playing a key role in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, which aims to create an artificial Sun using nuclear fusion.
This ambitious global effort, involving 30 countries, seeks to generate clean, limitless energy by replicating the fusion process of the Sun.
Key Highlights of the Project
• The world’s most powerful magnet, known as the Central Solenoid, has been completed and tested in the United States.
• This magnet is strong enough to lift an aircraft carrier and will help contain the superheated plasma needed for fusion.
• India has contributed critical infrastructure, including the cryostat cooling system, which houses the entire fusion reactor.
• The ITER reactor, located in southern France, will use deuterium and tritium as fuel, heating them to 150 million°C, ten times hotter than the Sun’s core.
About Nuclear Fusion
1. Definition
• Nuclear fusion is the process where two atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing a huge amount of energy.
• It is the same process that powers the Sun and other stars.
2. How Fusion Works
• At extremely high temperatures and pressure, lighter atoms (usually hydrogen isotopes) fuse together.
• The most common fusion reaction involves deuterium (²H) and tritium (³H), producing helium and a neutron.
• Fusion occurs at 150 million°C, which is hotter than the Sun’s core https://www.iasjnana.com/.
3. Advantages of Fusion Energy
• Limitless Fuel: Uses hydrogen from water and lithium, which are abundant on Earth.
• No Greenhouse Gases: Unlike fossil fuels, fusion does not produce CO₂.
• Safe & Stable: No risk of a nuclear meltdown, unlike fission reactors.
• Low Radioactive Waste: Produces minimal long-term radioactive material.
4. Challenges of Nuclear Fusion
• Requires extremely high temperatures, making it difficult to sustain reactions https://www.iasjnana.com/.
