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India's first fusion power company takes key steps toward a private tokamak
ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਕਿਉਂ?
A doughnut that holds a star's heat: the tokamak concept behind India's first private fusion venture, for GS3
Pranos Fusion advances towards India's first private tokamak.
Why it matters: factual, Prelims-type
What you need to know
2 ਮਿੰਟ
Bengaluru-based startup Pranos Fusion could firm up the designs of the first privately built tokamak in India in 2027.
A tokamak is a doughnut-shaped reactor that confines hot plasma with strong magnetic fields to produce energy by nuclear fusion.
ਸਰੋਤ: Topper IAS editorial (PIB / The Hindu / Indian Express)
ਮੁੱਖ ਤੱਥ
Remember these
- Pranos Fusion is a Bengaluru-based startup aiming to build India's first privately built tokamak; designs could be firmed up in 2027
- A tokamak is a doughnut-shaped (toroidal) reactor that confines hot plasma using strong magnetic fields
- Fusion releases energy by joining light nuclei such as deuterium and tritium, unlike fission, which splits heavy nuclei
- ITER, the international fusion project in France, is a tokamak-based experiment in which India is a member
- India's public fusion work includes the SST-1 tokamak at the Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar
ਪ੍ਰੀਲਿਮਜ਼ · ਮੇਨਜ਼
How the exam will ask it
ਪ੍ਰੀਲਿਮਜ਼
- Statement: A tokamak confines plasma using strong magnetic fields in a toroidal (doughnut-shaped) chamber. (Correct)
- Statement: Nuclear fusion involves splitting heavy nuclei into lighter ones, as in present-day nuclear power plants. (Incorrect: that is fission)
- Statement: Magnetic confinement and inertial confinement are two different approaches to achieving fusion. (Correct)
ਮੇਨਜ਼
GS3 (Science and Technology, Energy): Fusion promises abundant, low-carbon baseload power, but sustained net-energy plasma, materials and tritium breeding remain unsolved. Government-led programmes such as India's ITER participation and the Institute for Plasma Research are now joined by private start-ups, which raises the issue of regulation, funding and safety frameworks. The way forward is public-private partnership, a clear regulatory regime and steady long-term research funding alongside near-term renewables and fission.
Quick recall
Answer before you reveal
India's first fusion power company plans a privately built tokamak. A tokamak produces fusion energy by confining hot plasma using:
- Strong magnetic fields
- Intense laser pulses
- High-pressure steam turbines
- Gravitational compression
ਜਵਾਬ ਵੇਖੋ
ਜਵਾਬ: A — Correct: Strong magnetic fields — A tokamak is a magnetic-confinement device in which a doughnut-shaped magnetic field holds the plasma. • Intense laser pulses — wrong: Laser pulses are used in inertial confinement fusion, a different approach from a tokamak. • High-pressure steam turbines — wrong: Steam turbines convert heat to electricity later and do not confine plasma. • Gravitational compression — wrong: Gravitational compression confines plasma in stars, not in a laboratory tokamak.
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