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Which is nuclear fusion?  Science and a new milestone explained

Which is nuclear fusion? Science and a new milestone explained

American scientists have made a breakthrough in the field of nuclear fusionA: a “net gain of Energy” which represents a step forward towards a cleaner energy future.

In a laser fusion experiment, scientists at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were able to produce more energy than the reaction consumed: a net gain of 1.5 megajoules in less time than it takes light to travel one inch.

The breakthrough was announced in a press conference broadcast live from the US Department of Energy, led by US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.

“This is a great example of perseverance…it is a scientific milestone, but also an engineering marvel that is hard to believe”said Dr. Arati Prabhakar, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in a statement.

“Monday, December 5, was an important day for science,” added Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Jill Hruby.

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He explained that 192 lasers converged on a target no larger than a peppercorn and heated it to over 3 million degrees C, “briefly simulating the conditions of a star and achieving ignition”.

This is a historic achievement for both national security and the future of clean energy.

“This marks the beginning of the fusion era,” stated Michl Binderbauer, CEO of TAE Technologies. “It is a crucial step that validates a theory and reinforces our growing field of work in fusion energy. By reaching a tipping point for research and gaining vital support, we are poised to invent a reality powered by commercial fusion power.”

Public and private research would be needed to scale up the technology, and President Biden has a vision of getting to a nuclear fusion plant within a decade, Granholm added.

What exactly is nuclear fusion?

Current nuclear power plants use nuclear fission, that is, the division of the nucleus of an atom.

Nuclear fusion is what happens in the Sun and other stars and consists of uniting two atomic nuclei to form a larger one. Both reactions release large amounts of energy, but with nuclear fusion the energy yield is very high and the production of nuclear waste very low.

Fusion occurs when two light atoms come together, or fuse, to form a heavier one. The total mass of the new atom is less than that of the two that formed it; the “missing” mass is released in the form of energy, as described by Albert Einstein’s famous equation c2.

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There are several “recipes” for cooking nuclear fusion, which are based on different atomic combinations.

At present, the most promising combination to produce energy on Earth is the fusion of a deuterium atom with a tritium atom. The process, which requires temperatures of about 72 million degrees Fahrenheit (39 million degrees Celsius), produces 17.6 million electron volts of energy.

Deuterium is a promising ingredient because it is an isotope of hydrogen. In turn, hydrogen is a fundamental part of water. One gallon of seawater (3.8 liters) could produce as much energy as 300 gallons (1136 liters) of gasoline.

Challenges for nuclear fusion researchers

Although nuclear fusion power offers the prospect of a nearly inexhaustible energy source for future generations, it has also posed many hitherto insurmountable scientific and engineering challenges.

On the Sun, enormous gravitational forces create the right conditions for nuclear fusion at the star’s core, but on Earth they are much more difficult to achieve.

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The fusion fuel – different isotopes of hydrogen – must be heated to extreme temperatures of the order of 50 million degrees Celsius, and must remain stable under intense pressure, and dense and confined enough for the time necessary to allow the fusion of the nuclei. .

More milestones of nuclear fusion

This week’s achievement of “net energy gain” is one of the few recent breakthroughs for fusion energy.

Using the world’s largest laser, scientists for the first time managed to make fusion fuel heat up more than the heat injected into it last January, achieving a phenomenon called burning plasma that was a step forward in energy. of self-sustaining nuclear fusion.

In February, British researchers reported achieving 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy at a facility in Culham, near Oxford. This amount was more than double the previous mark.

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The joint European project JET nuclear fusion reactions achieved 59 megajoules of energy over a period of five seconds. Expressed as a unit of power, it is equivalent to just over 11 megawatts on average in five seconds. The previous record, reached in 1997 with 22 megajoules, was equivalent to 4.4 megawatts on average in five seconds.

Ian Chapman, director of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, described it as a milestone that brings researchers closer to conquering one of science’s greatest challenges.

Scientists have warned that years of work are still needed and that the energy level achieved so far is modest. The 59 megajoules of energy produced in that experiment, for example, was only enough to boil about 60 kettles of water.

“We are acquiring the knowledge and developing the new technology necessary to obtain a source of sustainable energy base and with low carbon emissions that helps protect the planet for future generations”Chapman declared earlier this year. “Our world needs fusion power.”

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Tony Donne, program manager of the EUROfusion group responsible for that project, said the new results show that scientists are on the right track.

“If we can sustain nuclear fusion for five seconds, we can do it for five minutes and then five hours as we scale up our operations in future machines.”Donne declared last February.

Source: World Economic Forum

Source: Gestion

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