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Institute for Plasma Research Installs SST-1 Tokamak
India’s indigenous nuclear fusion research reaches a milestone with the installation of Steady State Superconducting Tokamak-1 (SST-1) at the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The development relates to India’s ‘Artificial Sun’ work using tokamak-based experimental nuclear fusion reactors.
SST-1 Tokamak and India’s Artificial Sun:
| Dimension | Key Details |
|---|---|
| ‘Artificial Sun’ definition | It refers to ground-based experimental nuclear fusion reactors, specifically tokamaks, designed to replicate the core energy-generation process of the Sun. |
| Core mechanism | Fusion forces light atomic nuclei, typically isotopes of hydrogen, Deuterium and Tritium, together under extreme temperature and pressure to form Helium, releasing massive clean energy; fission involves splitting heavy atoms like Uranium. |
| Temperature requirement | Reaching fusion conditions requires heating hydrogen gas into a superheated ionized state called plasma. |
| India’s plasma temperature | In India’s experiments, plasma temperatures have exceeded 200 million°C, over 10 times hotter than the core of the Sun. |
| Gyrotron | A gyrotron is a high-power vacuum tube device that generates high-frequency microwave energy and provides Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) to heat and sustain plasma. |
| Upgraded performance | The upgrade replaces older 42 GHz systems, enhancing capacity to heat, maintain stability, and extend the confinement time of ultra-hot plasma without touching the reactor walls. |
| Magnetic confinement | It utilizes strong superconducting magnets to trap the plasma inside a donut-shaped chamber (torus). |
| India’s indigenous tokamaks | ADITYA/ADITYA-U comprises India’s first medium-sized conventional air-core tokamak with copper coils used for basic plasma physics research; SST-1 comprises India’s first superconducting tokamak designed for long-duration, steady-state plasma operation. |
| Institute for Plasma Research | IPR is located in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, and is an autonomous R&D institute under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) leading domestic fusion research. |