Annual Report 2018-2019
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ANNUAL REPORT 2018-2019 Bhat, Gandhinagar 382428 GOVERNING COUNCIL 1) Shri K.N. Vyas Chairman 2) Director, BARC Member 3) Dr. Amit Roy Member 4) Shri Tapan Mishra Member 5) Dr. Siraj Hasan Member 6) Dr. Manjit Singh Member 7) Dr. S. Chaturvedi (Director) Member (Ex-Officio) 8) Joint Secretary (R&D), DAE Member (Ex-Officio) 9) Joint Secretary (Finance), DAE Member (Ex-Officio) 10) Smt. Anju Sharma (GoG) Member (Ex-Officio) 11) Shri Niranjan Vaishnaw (CAO)Non-Member Secretary (Ex-Officio) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Institute continued its tradition of concurrent advances in the areas of basic research, technology development and broadening its societal applications portfolio in the year 2018-19. This year also saw the prestigious Fusion Energy Conference by the IAEA being hosted in Gandhinagar, for the first time. The institute actively pursued the other Govt. initiatives like Swachha Bharat and popularizing of the use of Hindi in its day-to-day activities. RESEARCH • ADITYA-U tokamak exceeded the design value (250 ms) for the pulse duration as a result of im- proved position control. It also demonstrated the Supersonic Molecular Beam Injection system to mitigate the multi-MeV “runaway” electrons, which can otherwise cause significant damage to the vacuum vessel. • SST-1 tokamak TF magnets could achieve 90% of their design value of the magnetic field of 3 Tesla. Helium plasma experiments assisted by Electron Cyclotron Resonance and Lower Hybrid (both Ra- dio frequency wave technologies) have been done. A Ka-Band reflectometer system for measuring radial electron density has been developed and tested. • A simulation based on Molecular Dynamics has helped to understand the maximum power absorp- tion in a laser driven nano-plasma which will be useful for developing compact multi-MeV ion accelerators. • A stable dusty plasma Coulomb crystal was observed in a Direct Current (DC) glow discharge plasma which was experimentally challenging earlier. The work received accolades by becoming Editor’s pick in Physics of Plasmas Dec. 2018 TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT • Deliveries to ITER under the ITER Agreement are progressing well. Major portions of CWS pack- age have already been delivered. The criticality of IWS supply has been reduced as the manufactur- ing pace has increased. The Cryostat deliveries for the first 3 major sub-assemblies have already reached ITER site and are at various stages of welding completion. • A 100 kV, 7.5 MW regulated high-voltage power supply (designed and developed by IPR and tech- nology transferred) was delivered by ECIL to the Neutral Beam Test Facility in Padova, Italy, as part of India’s in-kind contribution to ITER. • An indigenously-developed 40 kW, 1 MHz solid state Radio Frequency (RF) generator has been integrated with an RF based negative ion source and power up to 40 kW was coupled to produce the plasma. In due course, such generators will be able to substitute imports. ..Continued • Extreme heat flux handling technologies are making progress with the indigenous development of advanced materials like seven layered W/Cu. • Development of high temperature superconductors for futuristic magnet and associated technologies like low resistance joints, shaping of coils are being done. • Remote Handling and Robotics technologies will play a crucial role in high-tech reactor systems, e.g. maintenance, visualization of complex interfaces and issue resolution etc. At present, vacuum and high temperature compatible inspection arm with haptic force feedback, dexterous hyper redun- dant end-effector and a fully immersive virtual reality facility are being developed and are at various stages of demonstration. • Nuclear modeling codes have a very detailed and complex way of specifying materials and geom- etry. A significant simplification is being brought about by writing an interface code for the conveni- ence of several users. This work is progressing well at CPP-IPR. • R&D on tritium breeding blanket technologies is progressing well. The corrosion studies on Indian Reduced Activation Ferritic Martensitic Steel (IN-RAFMS) is being done with lead lithium liquid. With the new constraints emerging at ITER, the testing strategy for our own materials needs to be re- visited. In the meantime, the solid breeder and the liquid breeder studies are continuing and similarly the high pressure He-loop system (to demonstrate advanced coolants) is expected in the coming FY. APPLICATIONS • An environment-friendly de-scouring process by using Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma was successfully developed and tested for continuous operation. • A planar magnetron system has been developed for deposition of thin metallic films on powder par- ticles for changing thermochemical properties. • A prototype pulsed dc plasma system of Ozone and Oxygen was developed to sterilize Medical devices, components etc. • A rotatable magnetron has been developed indigenously for the sputter coating industry. The cost of 1m length rotatable magnetron is 3 times less than that of a commercial imported system. • Atomistic simulations of turbulence in Yukawa liquids have shown ways to have a strong mixing of fuel and air in engines in automobiles. OUTREACH • Pride of India, Pagwara, Punjab 3-7 Jan. 2019 • Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas, Varanasi, 21-23 Jan. 2019 • Other regular activities, events at IPR and in various schools DIRECTOR, IPR. ANNUAL REPORT APRIL 2018 TO MARCH 2019 Since 1986 the institute has been involved in plasma physics research with fast growing facili- ties, trained man power and many fruitful national and international collaborations. Starting with small tokamak experiments and basic plasma experiments, the institute has been acquir- ing expertise in most of the relevant scientific and technological requirements for controlled thermonuclear fusion. Through the participation of the country in the ITER project, technolo- gies related to fusion are being developed in the institute which are also being tested in the international arena. Also the technologies thus developed are being made available and being applied to many other societal problems benefiting the country. CHAPTERS A. SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL PROGRAMME ....................................01 B. ACTIVITIES of ITER-INDIA .................................................26 C. ACADEMIC PROGRAMME ...................................................33 D. TECHNICAL SERVICES .........................................................33 E. PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS .............................36 F. OTHER ACTIVITIES ...............................................................100 INSTITUTE FOR PLASMA RESEARCH CHAPTER A SUMMARY OF SCIENTIFIC & TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRAMMES A.1 Plasma Based Technologies & Applications...........02 A.2 Fundamental Plasma Physics............07 A.3 Tokamak Experiments.......................11 A.4 Fusion & Related Technologies.........16 A.5 Theoretical, Modelling & Computational Plasma Physics....22 1 ANNUAL REPORT 2018-2019 A.1 Plasma Based Technologies & Applications The fourth state of matter, Plasma, after solid, liquid and gas has enormous potential applications for societal benefits. Here it is being studied and developed though small projects. Some of these projects were also funded through various agencies. The developed systems have been commissioned at the respective locations all over the country. A.1.1 Plasma Surface Engineering Applications........................................................02 A.1.2 Atmospheric Plasma Applications ....................................................................04 A.1.3 Plasma Thrusters.................................................................................................05 A.1.1 Plasma Surface Engineering Applications operation. This system is being used for preliminary coating experiments on powders at TBRL, Chandigarh. Development of a Plasma based coating system: The plasma based prototype system is developed in house for the metal Titanium Nitride (TIN) / Titanium Aluminium Nitride(TiAlN thin film deposition on powder substrates. The metal target of ) coating on cylindrical tubes for improving oxidation re- three inch planar magnetron is sputtered by using low pres- sistance: The zirconium based alloy tubes which are used in sure argon plasma. The metallic thin film deposition up to nuclear power reactors undergo waterside corrosion by the thickness of 4-5 micron can be done. The substrate is water coolant water under normal operating condition. In the case cooled to control the temperature of the powder during depo- of loss of coolant situation, the temperature may increase sition process. Also the substrate is given vibratory motion in which can accelerate corrosion reaction and corresponding vacuum during the deposition in order to coat maximum sur- hydrogen generation. Multilayer coatings of TiN and TiAlN face area of the powder. The system has also a potential ap- have been widely studied because they have good corrosion plication for metal coating like aluminium, copper, titanium resistance at higher temperatures. In the study taken up in on energetic powder material of sizes 50-200 micron. The collaboration with BARC, TiN and TiAlN coating ( 01 mi- figure A.1.1 shows the plasma coating system unit during cron thick) on cylindrical tubes (dia.1 cm, length 10 cm ) has been developed by using plasma based cylindrical magnetron sputtering. The structural characterisation of the coatings on steel samples has been completed. The multilayer coatings (4 layers) of TiN and TiAlN will