If Pranos Fusion achieves its objectives, India could move significantly closer to privately developed fusion energy, with the design of the country's first privately built tokamak reactor expected to be finalised in 2027, The Hindu reported.

The Bangalore-based Start-Up has already developed PRAGYA, a compact doughnut-shaped tokamak designed to validate plasma control systems and high-temperature superconducting magnet technologies. The experimental machine is intended to serve as a stepping stone towards PRANIK, a substantially larger fusion reactor capable of generating the extreme temperatures required for nuclear fusion.

According to co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Shaurya Kaushal, the company expects to complete the PRANIK blueprint by 2027 and begin progressing towards a practical reactor capable of producing energy. He emphasised, however, that generating commercial electricity from fusion remains a longer-term objective.

“By 2027, we expect to finalise the blueprint for PRANIK and be on our way to building a practical reactor that can produce energy. To be able to actually produce electricity from fusion is a further step away.”

Pranos Fusion is currently incubated at the Institute of Plasma Research, which operates under the Department of Atomic Energy, as well as the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore, which is supported by the Department of Science and Technology.

Unlike conventional nuclear power stations, which rely on fission reactions involving uranium, fusion generates energy when light atomic nuclei combine. Most fusion concepts focus on merging deuterium and tritium, two forms of hydrogen, to produce helium and a high-energy neutron while releasing substantial amounts of energy.

Achieving fusion requires temperatures approaching 100 million degrees Celsius, several times hotter than the Sun's core. At such temperatures, matter exists as plasma, making physical containment impossible. Tokamaks overcome this challenge by using powerful magnetic fields to suspend and control the plasma without allowing it to touch reactor walls.

Pranos Fusion was among the deep-technology companies highlighted during the Emerging Science Technology and Innovation Conclave held recently.

Roshan George, co-founder and a Computer Science engineer from the Manipal Institute of Technology, noted that although fusion-generated electricity remains distant and currently expensive, future demand for clean energy sources is expected to rise substantially.

“Electricity from a fusion reactor is still far away and would be expensive now, however the need for any source of energy is only going to grow.”

He further highlighted fusion's safety and fuel advantages.

“Fusion’s advantage is that while [it’s] nuclear power, it doesn’t need radioactive material like uranium. India already produces plenty of deuterium. Fusion reactions are also not chain reactions, and therefore the risk of a runaway reaction [like in a fission reactor] is almost absent.”

Globally, fusion research continues to advance through large-scale international projects. The most prominent is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) under construction in southern France. The multinational project includes India, the European Union, the United States, Russia, China, Japan and South Korea. ITER is designed to demonstrate a reactor capable of producing roughly ten times more fusion power than the heating power supplied to its plasma.

However, the project has faced significant delays. Revised timelines announced in 2024 pushed initial research operations to 2034 and full deuterium-tritium operations to 2039, while increasing overall costs by approximately €5 billion.

India's own fusion research infrastructure is overseen by the Institute of Plasma Research, which operates facilities such as ADITYA and the Steady State Tokamak (SST-1). The institute also coordinates India's contributions to ITER.

Kaushal explained that fusion reactor costs vary considerably depending on scale. While compact research systems such as PRAGYA require comparatively modest investment, reactors pursuing net energy gain are substantially larger and more expensive.

Private fusion ventures globally have collectively attracted more than $13 billion in investment, with several leading programmes securing funding measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.

Pranos Fusion believes advances in compact reactor architecture, high-temperature superconducting magnets and India's manufacturing ecosystem can reduce development costs significantly. The company has secured $7.2 million in funding from investors including Ankur Capital, pi Ventures and Industrial47.

High-temperature superconducting magnets form a critical part of the firm's strategy. These systems utilise specialised materials capable of conducting electricity without resistance when cooled below a specific temperature, enabling stronger magnetic fields and potentially smaller reactor designs.

Recent international developments have reinforced momentum within the fusion sector. Britain's Joint European Torus (JET) achieved a record 69 megajoules of fusion energy during experiments in 2023, although the output remained below the total heating energy supplied.

Meanwhile, the United States' National Ignition Facility achieved a landmark ignition result in 2022, generating more fusion energy than the laser energy delivered to the fuel target, though not exceeding the total electrical energy required to power the facility.

At the same time, high-temperature superconducting magnet technology has demonstrated magnetic fields of around 20 tesla in testing, strengthening industry confidence that compact, high-field fusion reactors may be commercially viable in the future.

Pranos Fusion is also pursuing a business strategy that generates commercial value before a power plant is completed. Kaushal said the company operates two technology platforms alongside reactor development.

The first, JENGA, is a simulation, design and control software platform that functions as a digital twin of fusion machines, allowing engineers to model and optimise reactor performance. The second, MAGGA, is the company's dedicated high-temperature superconducting magnet development program.

By combining advanced software, magnet technologies and compact reactor design, Pranos Fusion is positioning itself at the forefront of India's emerging private fusion energy sector, even as commercial fusion power remains one of the most challenging technological goals of the 21st century.

Agencies