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Why Nuclear Fusion Is Always 3. Years Away. The Joint European Torus tokamak generator, as seen from the inside. It represents a nearly limitless source of energy that is clean, safe and self- sustaining. Ever since its existence was first theorized in the 1. English physicist Arthur Eddington, nuclear fusion has captured the imaginations of scientists and science- fiction writers alike. Fusion, at its core, is a simple concept. Take two hydrogen isotopes and smash them together with overwhelming force.

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The two atoms overcome their natural repulsion and fuse, yielding a reaction that produces an enormous amount of energy. But a big payoff requires an equally large investment, and for decades we have wrestled with the problem of energizing and holding on to the hydrogen fuel as it reaches temperatures in excess of 1. Fahrenheit. To date, the most successful fusion experiments have succeeded in heating plasma to over 9. Fahrenheit, and held onto a plasma for three and a half minutes, although not at the same time, and with different reactors. The most recent advancements have come from Germany, where the Wendelstein 7- X reactor recently came online with a successful test run reaching almost 1. China, where the EAST reactor sustained a fusion plasma for 1.

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Still, even with these steps forward, researchers have said for decades that we’re still 3. Even as scientists take steps toward their holy grail, it becomes ever more clear that we don’t even yet know what we don’t know.

The first plasma achieved with hydrogen at the Wendelstein 7- X reactor. Temperatures in the reactor were in excess of 1. Fahrenheit. Exciting as these examples may be, when considered within the scale of the problem, they are only baby steps.

It is clear that it will take more than one, or a dozen, such “breakthroughs” to achieve fusion.“I don’t think we’re at that place where we know what we need to do in order to get over the threshold,” says Mark Herrmann, director of the National Ignition Facility in California. We may have eliminated some perturbations, but if we eliminate those, is there another thing hiding behind them? And there almost certainly is, and we don’t know how hard that will be to tackle.”We will almost certainly get a better perspective on the unknown problems facing fusion sometime in the next decade when an internationally- backed reactor, intended to be the largest in the world, comes to fruition. Called ITER, the facility would combine all we have learned about fusion into one reactor. It represents our current best hope for reliably reaching the break- even point, or the critical temperature and density where fusion reactions produce more power than is used to create them. At the break- even point, the energy given off when two atoms fuse is enough to cause other atoms to fuse together, creating a self- sustaining cycle, making a fusion power plant possible. Perhaps inevitably, however, ITER has fallen prey to setbacks and design disputes that have slowed construction.

It is these sorts of budgetary and policy hesitations that could ensure we continue saying fusion is 3. In the face of more immediate challenges, from health epidemics to terrorism, securing funding for a scientific long bet is a hard sell. A decades- long series of “breakthroughs” that lead only to more challenges, compounded by pervasive setbacks, have diluted the fantastic promise of a working fusion reactor. What Exactly Is Fusion? Reliably reaching the break- even point is a twofold problem: getting the reaction started and keeping it going. In order to generate power from a fusion reaction, you must first inject it with sufficient energy to catalyze nuclear fusion at a meaningful rate.

Once you have crossed this line, the burning plasma must then be contained securely lest it become unstable, causing the reaction to fizzle. To solve the issue of containment, most devices use powerful magnetic fields to suspend the plasma in midair to prevent the scorching temperatures from melting the reactor walls. Looking something like a giant doughnut, these “magnetic containment devices” house a ring of plasma bound by magnetism where fusion will begin to occur if a high enough temperature is achieved. Russian physicists first proposed the design in the 1. A magnetic confinement fusion device, the Wendelstein 7- X, under construction. There are currently two types of magnetic confinement devices in use: the tokamak and the stellarator.

The differences between the two are relatively small, but they could be instrumental in determining their future success. The main disparity in their design arises from how they generate the poloidal magnetic field — the one that wraps around the plasma. Tokamaks generate the field by running a current through the plasma itself, while stellarators use magnets on the outside of the device to create a helix- shaped field that wraps around the plasma. According to Hutch Neilson of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, stellarators are considered more stable overall, but are more difficult to build and suffer from a lack of research. Tokamaks, on the other hand, are much better understood and easier to build, although they have some inherent instability issues. At the moment, there is no clear winner in the race between the two, as neither appears to be close to the “holy grail.” So, due to lack of a victor, researchers are building both.“There is a lack of a solution at this time, so looking at two very realistic and promising configurations for closing that gap is the responsible thing to do,” says Neilson.

One of five sections that comprise the outer vessel of Wendelstein 7- X, photographed during production. JET was commissioned in the 1. With a series of upgrades beginning in the late 1. JET became the world’s largest fusion generator, and currently holds the record for the most energy produced in a fusion reaction at 1. Even so, it has not yet reached the break- even point. ITER Offers a Way. To reach this all- important milestone, we will likely have to wait for ITER.

Latin for “the way,” ITER will be the largest and most powerful fusion generator in the world, and is expected to to cross the break- even point. ITER is projected to produce 5.

MW of power with an input of 5. MW, and be able to hold plasma for half an hour or more. That’s enough energy to power roughly 5. Based on the tokamak design, the project is the result of a collaboration between the European Union and six other countries, including the U. S., that have pooled resources and expertise to build a reactor that is expected to be the gateway to useable fusion energy. One of the cables used to create the toroidal magnetic field within ITER. As reactors get larger, they become more stable and can achieve higher temperatures, the two key factors in creating fusion.

ITER is meant to be the successor to JET, and will take the technology developed there and apply it on a much larger scale. This includes JET’s tungsten and beryllium divertors, which capture energy in the reactor, as well as the capability to fully control the system remotely. ITER will also use superconducting magnets to create its magnetic field, as opposed to ones made of copper, according to Borba. Such magnets will reduce the amount of energy consumed by the device and will allow for longer, more sustained plasma production. Romantic Horror Movies Hazlo Como Hombre (2017). JET can currently only produce plasma in bursts, as it cannot sustain the high levels of energy use for very long. Collaboration Is Key.

The most important development made by JET and implemented with ITER may not even be scientific, but rather bureaucratic in nature, says Borba. As a project supported by multiple nations, JET forged the path for organizing and implementing a large- scale, decades- long project. With a projected price tag of $1.

ITER could only exist today as a collaborative effort. Watch Inconceivable (2017) Hd on this page. Each of the member nations contributes researchers and components, with the hope that the potential benefits will be shared by all.