ITER
Also called: International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor · Topic: Energy Resources of India: Conventional and Non-conventional · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is a giant international experiment in France. Its aim is to show that nuclear fusion can work on a large scale. Fusion means joining light nuclei to release energy. ITER uses a tokamak, a doughnut-shaped chamber where strong magnets hold very hot plasma (gas whose atoms have lost their electrons) away from the walls. The fuel is deuterium and tritium, two forms of hydrogen. They fuse into helium and a fast neutron.
Seven members build ITER: the EU, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA. India pays about 9 per cent of the cost. Most of this is paid "in-kind", which means as finished machine parts made in India, not as cash. ITER is a research machine and will not supply electricity. In 2024 its major experiments were delayed to 2039.
Example
ITER-India works from the Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar (Gujarat), under the Department of Atomic Energy. India has supplied the Cryostat, the huge steel shell that holds the vacuum around the machine, including a 1,250-tonne base section. India is also developing a Test Blanket Module.
Don't confuse with
- SST-1: India's own tokamak at IPR, Gandhinagar, which produced its first plasma in 2013. ITER is an international project in France.
- Fission reactors (e.g. Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu): these split uranium atoms and already make electricity. ITER joins light nuclei and is only experimental.
Recent developments
- 13 November 2026: India agreed to co-fund Elettra 2.0, the upgrade of the synchrotron research facility at Trieste, Italy. A synchrotron is a machine that speeds up electrons until they give off very bright X-rays for experiments. India committed more than 7 million Euros over five years from 2026-27 to pay for two India-centric beamlines, which are dedicated experiment stations. This matters because it shows ITER is not a one-off: India regularly pays to join big science facilities abroad. One difference to remember is that DST leads Elettra, while DAE leads ITER.