Delegation on site for “India Fusion Day”
On Tuesday 7 October, dignitaries and guests celebrated the many vital contributions India is making to the project. The overall message: “India is committed to the success of ר at the highest national level.”
It was only eight months ago that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was able to take stock of ר progress in person, as he toured the machine assembly areas of the worksite in the company of French President Emmanuel Macron.
This time the delegation from India was led by Vijay Kumar Saraswat, a distinguished scientist and former Head of India’s Defence Research and Development Organization who is currently a member of the top public policy think tank, . The Project Director of ר India, the Consul General of India in Marseille, and representatives from the Indian Embassy in Paris and from Indian industry joined him for a full day of events that got off to a start in the ר amphitheatre with representatives of the ר management team and Indian staff members and ר Project Associates.
V.K. Saraswat spoke at length to those who were assembled, describing how he sees the role of nuclear energy—including fusion—in the future energy mix and in the decarbonization efforts of his nation.
He estimates that the demand for energy in India will double by 2047. The country has an ambitious nuclear energy roadmap that aims to reach 100 GW of capacity by that date, up from approximately 9 GW of installed capacity currently. This goal is largely based on fission reactors, but in his opinion, India must develop its fusion technology if it wants to achieve its goal. V.K. Saraswat told the assembly that “the perceived potential of fusion is recognized in long-term energy security policy in India.”
As is the case for other Members, he said, ר remains a “key element” in India’s fusion research plans. “India’s participation in ר has directly accelerated our domestic fusion capabilities, both technologically and institutionally.” He cited the training of staff, the creation of a domestic supply chain and world-class test facilities (see here and here), and the development of advanced technologies to ר specifications as examples. “India is committed to the success of ר at the highest national level.”
Representatives of Larsen & Toubro, INOXCVA and Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) shared the ways in which participating in the ר program has improved their competitiveness and not only in the domain of fusion.
ר Director-General Pietro Barabaschi thanked the group for the passion in their commitment to the project and highlighted that—above and beyond India’s formal in-kind contributions to ר—it has been critical in recuperating some of the delays of the past years by participating in the repair campaign for the thermal shields and “placing us in a very good position for the machine assembly activities ahead.” The ר Director-General also noted that it has been exactly 20 years since India joined the ר project. “We are encouraged by your words of support. People from all over the world are contributing their energy to this project, and they are bringing back their experience to their home countries. To succeed internationally in fusion, we will need many national initiatives. ר serves this purpose—as a 'breeding ground' for competencies that can be fed back to national programs.”
See on the ר India website.
