Pune’s D Y Patil Varsity to undertake research in Nuclear Fusion Tech.

D Y Patil International University has undertaken a project to develop a power reactor based on Nuclear Fusion Technology which will be a safe, sustainable and environment friendly solution to generate electricity in the country. The project – named Sanlayan, s Sanskrit term for fusion – has secured a seed funding of $ 1 Million from Albot Technologies.
This was announced by Prof Prabhat Ranjan, Vice Chancellor, D. Y. Patil International University, in a press conference on Wednesday. Dr. Akash Singh, promoter of Albot Technologies, also addressed the press conference.
Prof. Ranjan, who is the Chief Mentor of this project, said, “This is a first-of-its-kind private initiative that aims to deliver a compact volume neutron source capable of producing medical isotopes along with nuclear fuel breeding by converting Thorium to Uranium. It would also be possible to do nuclear waste management.”
“The ultimate goal of the project is to generate base load electricity in a clean and sustainable manner. On the way to energy production, we also aim to use neutrons produced through nuclear fusion for several critical applications to enable commercialization.”
Prof. Ranjan said the first commercial reactor under the project is expected to be ready in 15 years’ time and will have a capacity to generate 500 megawatt of clean power. The project, when completed, will be a game changer in the area of renewable energy, he said.
The project would try to create temperatures about 6-12 times that of the core of the sun to develop conditions necessary to produce nuclear fusion. “Technology wise, we are exploring the unique possibility of using a non superconducting magnet system to reduce the complexity, cost and make the system modular to improve the duty cycle of the operation. This approach, while discussed in literature, has not been experimentally achieved so far”, Prof Ranjan added.
He said most of the laboratory and research work can be done on the University campus but the project will need land of about 50 acres to actually build the reactor. “We have approached the State government with the request. The project will place Pune as the first Indian city on nuclear fusion map of the world.”
Dr. Akash Singh said the seed funding of $1 million will have to be scaled up to project funding of $ 3 billion in the next five years. This funding will come from global investors mainly from Middle East and Africa, he added. The project has a potential to generate employment for 10000 engineers and technicians, he said.