Bengaluru Startup Pranos Fusion Targets 2027 Blueprint for India's First Private Tokamak

Designs for India's first privately built tokamak, a nuclear reactor that uses fusion to produce energy, could be firmed up in 2027 by Bengaluru-based startup Pranos Fusion. The company has already built a small, doughnut-shaped tokamak named PRAGYA to test plasma control and superconducting magnets. This paves the way for building PRANIK, a larger tokamak that will heat plasma to millions of degrees to fuse hydrogen atoms.

Reaction

Co-founder and CEO Shaurya Kaushal stated that the company expects to finalise the PRANIK blueprint by 2027, though producing actual electricity from fusion remains a further step away. Co-founder Roshan George noted that fusion does not need radioactive materials like uranium, and India already produces plenty of deuterium. George also pointed out that fusion reactions are not chain reactions, meaning the risk of a runaway reaction is almost absent. Pranos Fusion is incubated out of the Institute of Plasma Research and the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, and has raised $7.2 million from backers including Ankur Capital, pi Ventures, and Industrial47.

Context

Nuclear plants traditionally rely on fission, which splits heavy atoms like uranium, whereas fusion merges light atomic nuclei to release energy under extreme temperatures. Because these superheated temperatures would melt any solid wall, tokamak reactors use powerful magnetic fields to hold the plasma safely in place. While global research projects like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in France face delays and massive budgets, private startups are exploring compact machines and high-temperature superconducting magnets to cut costs.