The latest developments in fusion energy - with the UKAEA
The Royal Institution・41 minutes read
Fusion energy offers a sustainable, secure, and abundant energy source without greenhouse gases, with significant investments totaling over $6 billion in private fusion companies. The Joint European Torus (JET) has made progress in fusion research, with advancements in AI applications and the pursuit of thermonuclear burning plasma conditions at ITER to develop commercial fusion energy.
Insights
- Fusion energy, replicating the power of stars on Earth, offers a sustainable, secure, and abundant energy source devoid of greenhouse gases or radioactive waste, with significant investments from private companies and governments worldwide.
- The success of fusion research, exemplified by JET and ITER, underscores the critical role of international collaboration, advanced technology, and decades of scientific groundwork in achieving breakthroughs towards economical fusion energy production, despite facing technical challenges and ongoing improvements.
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Recent questions
What is fusion energy?
Sustainable, abundant energy replicating stars on Earth.
How much investment has private fusion companies received?
Over $6 billion from various sources.
What is the role of JET in fusion energy research?
Conducts experiments to produce fusion power.
What is ITER and its goal?
International fusion project to develop sustainable energy.
What is the National Ignition Facility (NIF)?
Scientific facility using lasers for fusion research.
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Summary
00:00
Advancing Fusion Energy: Global Progress and Partnerships
- Dr. Melanie Windridge, CEO of Fusion Energy Insights, discusses the importance of fusion energy in addressing global energy challenges.
- Fusion energy aims to replicate the power of stars on Earth to combat rising global temperatures and increasing energy demands.
- Fusion energy offers a sustainable, secure, and abundant energy source without greenhouse gases or radioactive waste.
- Private fusion companies have seen significant investment, totaling over $6 billion, from various sources including energy companies and sovereign wealth funds.
- Progress in fusion energy includes public labs breaking records, private companies validating approaches, and governments committing to fusion strategies.
- Partnerships between private fusion companies, energy corporations, and national governments are increasing to accelerate fusion development.
- Scientific research in public labs over decades has laid the foundation for recent advances in fusion energy.
- Fernanda Rimini from the UK Atomic Energy Authority discusses the Joint European Torus (JET) and its role in fusion energy research.
- JET, a magnetic confinement fusion machine, has made significant progress in producing fusion power, particularly with deuterium-tritium experiments.
- JET's transition to a metal wall has reduced fuel retention issues, providing valuable insights for ITER and future fusion power plants.
16:14
Fusion Research: From JET to ITER
- Experiments were conducted on the last day of the campaign to confirm predictions, deliberately damaging the wall with a disruption, resulting in microscopic fragments of dislodged walls inside the Torus in the infrared.
- AI applications are being explored to predict and avoid disruptions in real-time using data collected from JET, focusing on AI and machine learning to represent disruptions in a 2D space based on five parameters during a pulse.
- The diagram illustrating disruptions based on JET data can be applied to other machines like D3D in the US, showcasing the transferability of knowledge to future machines.
- The success of JET is attributed not only to engineering and physics but also to the collaborative efforts of diverse individuals over 40 years, emphasizing the importance of people in fusion research.
- JET's initial experiments with tritium led to the realization that a larger machine with increased energy confinement time was necessary to achieve nuclear performance.
- ITER was established by the European Union, United States, Russia, Japan, India, China, and South Korea to develop a larger, superconducting fusion machine capable of sustaining high temperatures for longer durations.
- ITER aims to reach thermonuclear burning plasma conditions and test technologies like remote handling, superconductivity, and tritium breeding to produce as much tritium as consumed.
- The construction of ITER involves assembling toroidal field coils, vacuum vessels, and thermal shields in sectors, with each coil weighing about 400 tonnes and requiring 41 gigajoules of energy.
- The cryogenic plant at ITER is the most powerful in the world, cooling helium to four kelvin to enable superconductivity in niobium 13, with a cooling power requirement of about 100 megawatts.
- Challenges in welding the vacuum vessel sectors at ITER led to the need for repairs involving material buildup and realignment for precise welding in the pit.
32:51
"Thermal shield cracks delay fusion project approval"
- Found cracks in pipes cooling the thermal shield on site
- In thermonuclear fusion, temperatures range from 150 million degrees to four kelvin
- Thermal shield needed between vessel and magnet to prevent excessive power to magnet
- Drone footage shows assembly hall where components are put together
- Power conversion system for magnet operates at 300 megawatts
- Cryogenic system includes helium lines and heat rejection system
- 500 megawatts of thermonuclear power produced but not used for electricity
- 18 coils ready for assembly, including a 13 Tesla central solenoid
- Repair works ongoing on thermal shields and assembly hall components
- Project facing hiccups, preparing new baseline for ITER council approval
48:09
Advancements in Fusion Energy Research and Technology
- John Nuckolls, a director at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, proposed using lasers for fusion in the 1960s, leading to the construction of larger lasers over decades.
- The National Ignition Facility (NIF) was built in 1997, with experiments starting in 2009, taking 12 years to achieve ignition and produce more energy than input.
- The NIF has achieved ignition four times, with the most recent success in July 2023, producing almost twice the energy input.
- Challenges for Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) power plants include achieving gains of 50 to 100, shooting targets 10 times a second, and developing efficient laser drivers and fusion chambers.
- The NIF is a scientific facility, not a power plant, requiring advancements in technology and efficiency to make fusion commercially viable.
- Despite challenges, the NIF has improved gains by a factor of 1,000 over the past decade, showing promise for future advancements in fusion energy.
- Fusion research has gained momentum globally, with governments investing in fusion programs and collaborations to accelerate progress towards economical fusion energy production.
