The record was set during the last experimental campaign on the Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak located in Great Britain. This result is a great summary of 40 years of operation of this extraordinary, one of the largest and most powerful thermonuclear devices in the world.
This much energy from fusion has never been obtained before. These numbers are impressive
On Thursday, scientists associated with the EUROfusion consortium reported an extraordinary success. During the discharge in the JET tokamak, they managed to obtain high thermonuclear power, lasting for 5 seconds, from deuterium-tritium fuel. As measured, physicists managed to obtain 69 megajoules of energy while using only 0.2 milligrams of fuel – explain researchers from the Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion in Warsaw (IFPiLM). Polish scientists associated with EUROfusion have played an important role in research at JET for years.
The new result significantly improves the values ​​previously achieved on tokamaks. In the previous record discharge in December 2021 (also on JET), researchers managed to produce 59 megajoules of energy, which corresponds to 12 megawatts of power per second. However, even less fuel was used then – 0.1 milligram of tritium and 0.07 milligram of deuterium.
As researchers from IFPiLM write, the new record is an outstanding achievement that constitutes a milestone in the field of thermonuclear science and engineering. This is the largest amount of energy ever achieved by fusion experiments on Earth and the culmination of 40 years of work by the JET tokamak, which has played a key role in accelerating work on this type of energy source.
In December 2023, with the participation of Polish physicists from the Warsaw institute, the last experimental campaign at JET was completed. We then had the opportunity to talk to two scientists from IFPiLM – Dr. hab. Agata Chomiczewsk and Dr. Eng. Natalia Wendler – who straight from Culham in the UK (near Oxford) told us how nuclear fusion works and why research on it is so important (more on this topic can be found in the article below).
Our determination and international cooperation have produced exceptional results that represent a milestone in fusion energy research. This success not only confirms the ability to control plasma in tokamaks, but also represents a key step towards the goal of commercial-scale energy production using nuclear reaction. There are still many challenges and years of research ahead of us, but I am convinced that our hard work will bring even more innovative solutions that will shape the global energy industry.
– said Dr. Hab. Agata Chomiczewska, prof. IFPiLM, national coordinator of research on the JET tokamak.
Thermonuclear fusion, or the Sun on Earth. This could be the revolution of the century
Thermonuclear fusion is a process that takes place in the cores of stars, including our Sun. In short, it is the opposite process to the fission of atomic nuclei, a phenomenon used today in nuclear power plants. During synthesis, atomic nuclei collide, resulting in the formation of heavier helium from two lighter hydrogen atoms. This process leads to the release of huge amounts of energy that stars radiate in the form of, among others, heat and light.
On Earth, scientists, under controlled conditions, are trying to use it to obtain energy, which one day can be used, among others, for electricity production in future fusion power plants. The task is not easy, because to initiate thermonuclear fusion on Earth, an extremely high temperature of approximately 150 million degrees Celsius is needed.
However, the game is worth the candle, because fusion can be a source of 100% clean and easily available energy that will complement the renewable sources available today. In this process, scientists use deuterium and tritium (two isotopes of hydrogen), which can be easily obtained on Earth. A side effect of the process is harmless helium. It is believed that the development of an efficient source of electricity from fusion will be an absolute breakthrough in the energy industry comparable to the industrial revolution.
Now scientists from EUROfusion are waiting for the completion of the upcoming construction of an even larger and more advanced reactor, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). According to the assumptions, ITER will be able to produce approximately 500 MW of energy in cycles lasting up to approximately 1,000 seconds (16.7 minutes). A much more far-reaching plan is the construction of an experimental thermonuclear power plant DEMO (DEMOnstration Power Plant). However, this project is likely to come true in the 1950s at the earliest.
Source: Gazeta
Mabel is a talented author and journalist with a passion for all things technology. As an experienced writer for the 247 News Agency, she has established a reputation for her in-depth reporting and expert analysis on the latest developments in the tech industry.
