The Guardian: Projects that simulate the power of stars in the use of nuclear fusion

If you want proof that a process known as nuclear fusion can produce energy on a large scale somewhere in the universe, all you need is to look at the night sky, where all the lights (stars) you'll see are a natural fusion reactor .

In an article for the British Guardian website, Arthur Turrell, author of The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion and the Energy Race for the Planet, says scientists have sought For decades, energy from the stars has been brought to Earth.

Small star

And in a recently announced stunning development, the Culham Center for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire has reached a milestone by igniting a young star and keeping it ablaze.

Scientists working on the development of a machine in the form of a small circular cake they called "Jet", which is an acronym for (the Joint European Torus) and means "the Joint European Circle", have been able to double the previous world record (set in 1997) for the energy released by nuclear fusion reactions. In the course of the experiment, the output of fusion energy was equivalent to 4 onshore wind turbines - a step towards energy production on an industrial scale.

In keeping with Project Jet's design and objectives, less fusion energy was generated than required to heat the fuel. In fact, no experiment has so far produced more energy from fusion than has been used to start the reactions - and this remains a prominent goal of fusion scientists around the world.

The recent findings provide a compelling indication that bigger and better star-related machines that operate similarly to Jet, such as the internationally funded Iter project now under construction in France, will be able to produce more energy than they consume.

Create a star power

It is important to note the fact that although the aforementioned experiment lasted only 5 seconds, the reactions were not halted by a fuel failure, as was the custom in the past, but by the overheating of the supporting equipment. The cooling systems of the next generation of devices will prevent this, so jumping from 5 seconds to 5 minutes, or 5 hours, or even more, will now be possible.

The question here is: Why should society care about whether these scientists can recreate the power of stars? The answer is that fusion energy has the potential to provide clean energy on a planetary scale. And if scientists could perfect it, that would mean there would be enough fuel for everyone on Earth to use the same amount of energy annually as the average American for at least thousands of years, perhaps millions of years.

Also, this type of energy does not emit carbon dioxide or long-term radioactive waste, and is not associated with the risk of collapse, as happened in the Chernobyl and Fukushima reactors. It is known that the world is suffering from an energy shortage, and that some energy sources are the main cause of the climate crisis, and they are being used as a means in a dangerous geopolitical game.

Terrifying Tech Challenge

You may wonder why humanity has not yet managed to provide the energy of nuclear fusion?

The answer is that reproducing conditions similar to those in stars, where nuclear fusion occurs, presents a terrifying technical challenge that may be humanity's greatest.

This is because this requires the fusion machines to reach 4 to 10 times the temperature of the Sun's core. In Jet, a network of invisible magnetic fields 80,000 times stronger than Earth's is needed to control and trap the fuel. The fuel itself is a rotating mass of unstable charged particles that can stop reactions in milliseconds.

But fusion scientists continue to develop their work. In August 2021, an American experiment came close to reaching the desired goal of fusion, which is to produce more energy than that used in it. Although the total power achieved by that experiment was modest compared to the new record of (Jet) company, the American facility broke its previous record, which was set in 2018.

Last December, China's Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (East) managed to hold it at 150 degrees Celsius for 1,000 seconds, albeit without the special hydrogen fuels that would eventually be needed. end up in commercial reactors.

Investment in fusion energy doubled in the last three months of 2021 to reach $4.2 billion (Reuters)

The world of industry is now interested in nuclear fusion power, and the total investment in this field has doubled in the last three months of 2021 to reach $4.2 billion.

The Culham experiment proved to the world that high energy production from fusion reactions is possible. Despite the momentum associated with the experiment we talked about, there is a long way for scientists to go before they reach a conclusion that can power our homes with energy from nuclear fusion.

We are still so far from the target that the most powerful private nuclear fusion companies are promising a pilot plant by 2025, and current plans for publicly funded laboratories will not be able to provide the power of the stars three decades ago. Knowing that we will need nuclear fusion and renewables on a large scale much sooner to combat the climate crisis.