Tryst with a fusion reactor

A brief essay on the International Thermo-nuclear Experimental Re-actor (ITER) in which India is participating

K.S.Parthasarathy




SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Friday, July 25, 2008, Chandigarh, India
Tryst with a fusion reactor
K.S. Parthasarathy
Electric power generation is a dirty business, thus far at least. This may change if the International Thermo-nuclear Experimental Re-actor (ITER) to be constructed at Cadarache in the South of France, at a cost of about 5 billion Euros over the next 10 years, succeeds.
ITER will produce 500 MW of fusion power for a burn length of 400 seconds. It may operate for nearly 20 years.
Fusion reactors will be safe, reliable, environmentally benign and economically viable and will offer unlimited energy. The fuel materials, deuterium and lithium from which tritium can be extracted are abundant; deuterium in sea water and lithium in earth’s crust.
Fusion produces no greenhouse gases that cause global warming and climate change. Unlike fossil fueled plants, fusion reactors do not emit noxious gases; nor do they release cadmium, mercury, arsenic and natural radioactive elements
They do not produce long lived radioactive wastes. Some metal parts may get activated; these activities are relatively short-lived.
A fusion power plant uses tritium, a beta particle emitter of very low energy. It is consumed in the process itself. Fusion can never run out of hand, as it is not a chain reaction. The process is inherently safe. A successful fusion plant can power millions of houses.
Europe will contribute roughly 2.5 billion Euros to the project; while China, Japan, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA will contribute equally to the rest.
On March 6, 2008, the ITER Organisation and the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) signed a Cooperation Agreement. CERN has rich experience in many ITER related technologies. CERN will also contribute its expertise in finance, purchasing and human resources and software programmes.
ITER may provide the knowhow to build the first electricity generating power station based on magnetic confinement of high temperature plasma. Scientists will use it to test high-temperature tolerant components, large scale superconducting magnets, fuel breeding blankets using high temperature coolants to produce power efficiently and safe remote handling of irradiated components.
In December 2005, India joined the ITER organisation as its seventh full partner. The US-India joint statement of March 2, 2006 welcomed the participation of India in the ITER initiative on fusion energy as an important further step towards the common goal of full nuclear energy cooperation.
India will contribute equipment worth 500 million dollars to the ITER project and will participate in its subsequent operation and experiments. India will supply nine items including a massive cryostat which forms the outer vacuum envelope for ITER, the vacuum vessel shields made of special boron steel and occupying space between the two walls, eight 2.5 mega watt in cyclotron heating sources, complete with power systems and controls and cryo-distribution and water cooling subsystems (Nuclear India, May/June 2006).
The Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), an aided institution under the Department of Atomic Energy is the Indian Domestic Agency for the project
IPR has been carrying out research in basic and applied plasma physics. It has several basic experimental devices for research in plasma physics. It is currently building the Steady State Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1).
The strong commitments of the partners of this seemingly costly project indicate that it will succeed. Fifty years from now, when fusion reactors become a reality, we will have a breed of Indian engineers and scientists to construct and operate such plants which offer unlimited power to the country.
Indian scientists and engineers will get direct hands-on experience in design, fabrication, and operation etc. on the latest fusion technologies for the first time. India may join collaborative efforts to develop low activation materials and learn robotic technologies developed to handle radioactive components weighing up to 50,000kg.
As full partners in a prestigious international experiment, India will have to come to international standards of quality, safety, time schedule maintenance etc. immediately.
“If we backup the ITER INDIA effort with an aggressive, well focused national programme, it will allow us to leapfrog by at least a couple of decades” Dr P.K. Kaw, Director, IPR wrote in an article in Nuclear India.
(K.S.Parthasarathy is former Secretary, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board)