QUESTION 5
GS3
10 marks
The fusion energy programme in India has steadily evolved over the past few decades. Mention India's contributions to the -- International Fusion energy project (ITER). What will be the implications of the success of this project for the future of global energy?
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Trace India's fusion energy journey, state its contributions to ITER, and explain what ITER's success would mean for global energy.
ExplainMake clear how and why it happens: causes, process, and an example for each point.
Demand-wise check
- 1India's programme: Institute for Plasma Research (Gandhinagar), ADITYA tokamak (1989), SST-1 steady-state superconducting tokamak (2013)≈35 words
- 2ITER contributions: India joined in 2005; supplies about 9% in kind — cryostat (the world's largest stainless steel vacuum vessel, made by L&T), in-wall shielding, cooling water system, cryolines, ion cyclotron and electron cyclotron heating systems, diagnostics, power supplies≈35 words
- 3Implications: abundant low-carbon baseload power, little long-lived waste, no meltdown risk, energy security; but timelines are long (first plasma delayed to the 2030s)≈35 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
India's fusion historyITER membership and contributionsImplications for global energyCaveatsConclusion
Where marks usually go
- Not listing specific components India built
- Writing about fission reactors by mistake
Draw this
- Table: ITER component → Indian contribution
Value addition
- FactIndia's L&T fabricated ITER's cryostat, about 30 m wide and 30 m tall.ITER-India, Institute for Plasma Research
- FactITER members are the EU, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA.ITER Organization
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 15 ↗Reviewed PYQ reference
- Aniket Ranjan · AIR 48 · Page 35 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Mayank Purohit · AIR 33 · Page 7 ↗Same syllabus reference
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