US-manufactured central solenoid magnets responsible for inducing and stabilizing the superheated plasma make the backbone of the reactor. The components of the reactor include a 100ft-diameter cryostat, a device manufactured by India that is intended to surround the reactor and keep its vital components from overheating. ITER is supposed to become the world’s first reactor capable of self-burning plasma and would ideally generate up to 10 times the amount of heat that it consumes. As a result the process produces virtually no waste, making it a climate friendly, safe, and reliable source of near unlimited power – if we can get one to work. Fusion plants can be fueled by the hydrogen found in just a few ounces of seawater and don’t rely on radioactive materials. Like conventional nuclear (fission) reactions, the fusion process does not emit carbon dioxide, but unlike a nuclear plant, a fusion reactor cannot melt down. This is what Einstein's famous formula E=mc² describes: the tiny bit of lost mass (m), multiplied by the square of the speed of light (c²), results in a very large figure (E), which is the amount of energy created by a fusion reaction. Some mass is lost in the process, and great amounts of energy are released as a result. Hydrogen atoms forced together under immense heat and pressure break their atomic bonds, fusing into a new heavier element, helium. The fusion process is the same one that powers our sun: you can think of a star as one gigantic fusion reactor. (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU / AFP) (Photo by CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty Images Thirty-five nations are collaborating in the ITER energy project aimed at mastering energy production from hydrogen fusion, as in the heart of the sun, a potential new source of carbon-free and non-polluting energy. nuclear fusion machine "Tokamak" of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, southeastern France, on July 28, 2020. The $25 billion endeavor, which aims to produce sustainable fusion energy on a commercial scale, is financed by seven of the world’s largest energy powerhouses: the European Union, United Kingdom China, India, Russia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.Ī picture shows a general view of the assembly hall during the launch of the assembly stage of. ITER – the world’s largest nuclear fusion project – reached a construction milestone last week as the final components of the reactor arrived on the build site in southeastern France. part of the magnetic system that will contribute to confine and model plasma during the launch of the assembly stage of nuclear fusion machine "Tokamak" of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, southeastern France, on July 28, 2020. This is why fusion is still in the research and development phase – and fission is already making electricity.A picture shows the winding facility for the construction of poloidal field coils which will be. The reasons that have made fusion so difficult to achieve to date are the same ones that make it safe: it is a finely balanced reaction which is very sensitive to the conditions – the reaction will die if the plasma is too cold or too hot, or if there is too much fuel or not enough, or too many contaminants, or if the magnetic fields are not set up just right to control the turbulence of the hot plasma. Unlike nuclear fission, the nuclear fusion reaction in a tokamak is an inherently safe reaction. In conventional nuclear power stations today, there are systems in place to moderate the chain reactions to prevent accident scenarios and stringent security measures to deal with proliferation issues. This chain reaction is the key to fission reactions, but it can lead to a runaway process resulting in nuclear accidents. The result of the instability is the nucleus breaking up, in any one of many different ways, and producing more neutrons, which in turn hit more uranium atoms and make them unstable and so on. It is triggered by uranium absorbing a neutron, which renders the nucleus unstable. Fission and chain reactionsįission is the nuclear process that is currently run in nuclear power plants. Both reactions release energy which, in a power plant, would be used to boil water to drive a steam generator, thus producing electricity. However, fusion is combining light atoms, for example two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, to form the heavier helium. In fission, energy is gained by splitting heavy atoms, for example uranium, into smaller atoms such as iodine, caesium, strontium, xenon and barium, to name just a few.
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