Why in News?
Bengaluru startup Pranos unveiled PRAGYA, described in the source as India’s first privately built nuclear-fusion tokamak.
Key Details
- A tokamak is a doughnut-shaped device that uses powerful magnetic fields to confine extremely hot plasma for nuclear-fusion experiments.
- Nuclear fusion releases energy by combining light atomic nuclei—the process that powers the Sun—and is being researched as a potential low-carbon energy source.
- PRAGYA is a test bed for studying plasma behaviour, including density, pressure and temperature.
- Pranos aims to develop a larger net-gain fusion reactor, meaning a reactor that produces more fusion energy than the energy directly supplied to sustain the reaction.
- India’s government-led tokamak research includes Aditya-U and SST-1 at the Institute for Plasma Research in Gandhinagar.
Exam Connect
- Tokamak → magnetic-confinement device for nuclear fusion
- ITER → international fusion research project; India is one of its seven member entities
- Institute for Plasma Research → Gandhinagar, Gujarat