India’s Cooperation in ITER Project – Free PDF Download

BASICS

POINTS TO NOTE

• There are basically two types of reactions which take place to release nuclear energy:
• NUCLEAR FISSION
• NUCLEAR FUSION

INTERNATIONAL THERMONUCLEAR EXPERIMENTAL REACTOR (ITER)

• It is the world’s largest scientific experiment to demonstrate the possibility of producing commercial energy from Nuclear fusion launched in November 1985, at the Geneva Superpower Summit
• For instance, from 50 MW of input power, the ITER machine is designed to produce 500 MW of fusion power
• Seven ITER members signed the ITER Agreement in Paris on 21 November 2006
• The initial signatories included – the former Soviet Union, the USA, the European Union (via EURATOM), Japan, later joined by the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea in 2003, and India in 2005

INTERNATIONAL THERMONUCLEAR EXPERIMENTAL REACTOR (ITER) (contd.)

• Each signatory is required to contribute to the project
• European Union contributes around 40% of the funds to ITER project
• Rest of the countries contribute around 10%
• Currently, 35 Nations are collaborating on the project
• ITER will be the first fusion device to produce Net Energy
• Indian Agencies involved in it are –

1. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
2. National Plasma Research Centre, Pune

• ITER is being constructed in southern France at Cadarache
• Though, it was scheduled to be operational by 2016, however the project is delayed for 3-4 years (2019-2020)

ITER BUDGET – EURO 20 BILLION

• Having committed about Rs. 17,500 crores, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of this mega project on his recently concluded trip to France.
• India, by contributing to about ten per cent of the cost, gets access to one hundred per cent of technology.
• This is the most expensive mega-science effort India is participating in and globally ITER is the most expensive science project on Earth ever to be undertaken in the 21st century. The total weight of the ITER reactor will be about 28,000 tonnes.
• India has contributed the biggest component in the project – the world’s largest refrigerator that houses this unique reactor, was made in Gujarat by Larsen & Toubro. It weighs over 3800 tonnes and is almost half the height of the Qutb Minar.

UPSC CSE 2016

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

(a) It can use thorium in place of uranium for power generation

(b) It can attain a global role in satellite navigation

(c) It can drastically improve the efficiency of its fission reactors in power generation

(d) It can build fusion reactors for power generation

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