Fusion: Future or Failure? Samaiyah Rehman investigates ITER and its efforts to bottle a star.
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Issue 21
he same phenomena that fuels the Sun could be used to produce unlimited clean energy to power Earth. This may sound like a dream, but a dream close to reality. In one of the most pioneering energy projects of the century, 35 partner countries have pooled their financial and scientific resources, and are currently involved in a 35-year collaboration with the aim to generate safe and emission free energy by utilising the principles of nuclear fusion. Based in the South of France, thousands of scientific professionals since 1985 have been working on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Manipulating the tokamak concept of magnetic confinement, ITER aims to hold the title of the world’s largest magnetic fusion device used to harness nuclear power. To put things into perspective, it will be the size of 60 football grounds! Within the tokamak, high magnetic
plant, the neutron products (from the nuclear reaction) provide the thermal energy required to create steam and eventually generate electricity. This is implemented by the conventional process using generators and turbines. Should this avant-garde pull through and become triumphant in its efforts in reproducing the Sun’s fuel source, 500MW of power could be produced from 50MW for 300s; shockingly suggesting that the energy output is 10 times greater than the energy input. This completely contradicts the vital law of conservation of energy which has been instilled into our minds since high school but could be a historic breakthrough in energy production. The real beauty of this innovative project is the way in which many nations have put aside their political differences in order to excel in this revolutionary proposition. Participating nations include China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States. ITER will not only create a sustainably greener Earth by providing a clean unlimited energy source but could also act as a vessel in sedating the “[ITER] could be a historic political climate breakthrough in energy production.” bringing us closer to a utopian world. Chinese fields can be used to ‘squeeze’ plasma President Xi Jinping described the within a doughnut shaped chamber. In ITER design as “one of the most imorder for the fusion reactions to occur, portant international scientific collabthere must be extremely high condi- orations… embodies the human desire tions of pressure and temperature for for the peaceful use of fusion energy". Rather than contributing monetary the deuterium (D) and tritium (T) nuclei within the chamber to fuse and resources directly to ITER, participatyield a nuclear energy release. The ing nations will manufacture complete magnetic fields are controlled by giant components which will be delivered to superconducting electromagnets that Southern France, where the most comare cooled to almost absolute zero. plex 10-million-piece 3D jigsaw puzzle Conversely, the plasma will be at a will be assembled. Quite poetically, temperature of approximately ITER translates to “The Way” in Latin 150 million degrees demon- and in 2025, where the first plasma strating that the heart of ITER stage will be carried out, it will be evidwill be housing one of the ent whether “The Way” has indeed largest temperature gradients in been paved in the nuclear power inthe Universe. Similar to a power dustry.
January 2021 | SATNAV | 7
