The findings of the Joint European Torus (JET) Deuterium-Tritium experiment .
Scientists from the European research group EUROfusion recently completed ambitious fusion energy tests at the UK Atomic Energy Authority's world-leading fusion research facility JET (Joint European Torus).
On the way to energy generation using fusion plasmas, European scientists have made a key breakthrough:
They created stable plasmas with a total energy output of 59 megajoules at JET, the world's biggest fusion facility at Culham, near Oxford, UK.
The team utilized the fuel for future fusion power plants, which included researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP).
These were the world's first experiments of their sort in almost 20 years.
Fusion power plants, like the sun, attempt to fuse the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium, releasing massive quantities of energy in the process.
The European collaborative project JET, the Joint European Torus, in Culham near Oxford, UK, is presently the only facility in the world capable of running with such fuel.
However, it was there in 1997 when the final trials with the fuel for future fusion power plants took place.
Because tritium is a highly uncommon raw element with unique handling issues, researchers normally conduct plasma studies using hydrogen or deuterium.
Tritium will be produced from lithium in future power plants during the energy production process.
"We can investigate the physics of fusion plasmas extremely effectively by working with hydrogen or deuterium, thus this is the norm globally," says IPP's Dr.
Athina Kappatou, who directed important sections of the European collaboration studies at JET with IPP colleagues Dr. Philip Schneider and Dr. Jörg Hobirk.
"However, it is critical that we prepare for the circumstances that will occur in the worldwide, large-scale fusion experiment ITER."
ITER is now under construction in Cadarache, France, and will be able to discharge 10 times the amount of energy that is injected into the plasma in terms of thermal energy, utilizing deuterium-tritium fuel.
Between 2009 and 2011, the old carbon liner of the plasma vessel was replaced with a combination of beryllium and tungsten, as is also intended for ITER, to get the JET experiment as near to future ITER conditions as feasible.
Tungsten is a more durable metal than carbon, which also holds too much hydrogen.
The suddenly metallic wall, on the other hand, throws additional demands on the plasma control's quality.
The current experiments show the researchers' accomplishments: Record amounts of produced fusion energy have been reached at temperatures 10 times hotter than those at the sun's core.
JET had previously achieved the global energy record with a plasma that generated 22 megajoules of energy in 1997, prior to the wall material alteration.
Until today, this record has stood. Dr. Kappatou, an IPP physicist, notes, "In the newest trials, we intended to establish that we could produce much more energy even under ITER-like circumstances."
Hundreds of scientists and researchers worked for years to prepare for the tests.
They employed theoretical approaches to compute the parameters they needed to attain in order to make plasma and fulfill their objectives.
JET created stable plasmas with deuterium-tritium fuel that released 59 megajoules of energy in late 2021, confirming the expectations and setting a new world record.
The experimental facility is too tiny to create net energy—that is, to release more energy than the heatering systems give.
This won't be achievable until the larger-scale ITER experiment in southern France is up and running." JET's most recent experiments represent a critical step toward ITER "Prof.
Sibylle Günter, Scientific Director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, summarizes the findings.
"What we've learnt over the last several months will help us design tests with fusion plasmas that create much more energy than is required to heat them."
During a five-second phase of a plasma discharge, the fusion processes in JET released a total of 59 megajoules of energy in the form of neutrons, beating the previous record.
JET had a power output of slightly over 11 megawatts averaged over five seconds when measured in units of power (energy per time).
Scientists have warned that years of effort are still required, and the amount of energy obtained so far is insignificant.
For example, the energy generated in the most recent experiment was enough to boil 60 kettles of water.
"We're accumulating knowledge and creating new technologies to create a low-carbon, long-term source of baseload electricity that will help safeguard the world for future generations," Ian Chapman said.
"Fusion energy is critical for the future of our planet."
Nuclear fusion occurs when two atoms fuse at very high temperatures, releasing energy.
For decades, scientists have been attempting to produce fusion energy as a viable power source.
Fusion, unlike the combustion of fossil fuels or the fission process used in current nuclear power plants, promises plentiful energy without pollution, radioactive waste, or greenhouse gas emissions.
The fusion events at the European joint project JET produced 59 megajoules of energy during a five-second period in the experiment.
When expressed in megawatts, this equates to little over 11 megawatts averaged over five seconds.
The previous record of 22 megajoules was equal to 4.4 megawatts per second averaged over five seconds.
The outcome, according to Tony Donne, program manager of the EUROfusion group responsible for the study, suggests that the scientists are on the right track.
"If we can keep fusion going for five seconds, we'll be able to keep it going for five minutes, then five hours as we scale up our operations in future machines," Donne added.
The results will assist influence the larger-scale ITER experiment in southern France, according to Sibylle Gunter, scientific director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.
It is presently in the process of being built.
China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States are all supporting ITER, a fusion research project.
For future generations, fusion will provide safe, sustainable, and green power.
You may also read more about Green Technologies and Renewable Energy Systems here.
Further Reading:
Here's where you can learn more about it.
UKAEA: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-atomic-energy-authority
EUROfusion: https://www.euro-fusion.org/
