In this article we will try to explore the fusion power plants technology and try to understand how the two fusion power plant technologies will shape our planet future.
What is fusion and is it good for the environment?
Nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction through which two light nuclei of atoms, usually hydrogen and its isotopes (deuterium and tritium), are combined forming a heavier nucleus. This binding is usually accompanied by the emission of particles (in case of deuterium nuclei one neutron is emitted). This large amount of energy transforms matter to a plasma state [1].
Figure 1: Fusion nuclear reaction [1].
Figure 2: Sun and stars across the universe are powered by fusion [1].
Fusion power is considered to be the Holy Grail of Clean Energy. This power hungry world is set to for another World Record for the fossil fuel consumption [2]. For 2016 IEA (international energy agency) estimated worldwide average demand of nearly 96 million barrels of oil and liquid fuels per day [3]. The fossil fuel is the major and primary reason for greenhouse effect, due to which world climate is experiencing catastrophic shift to worse that includes droughts, floods, typhoon, food shortages, unpredictable extreme weather, melting of polar ice, fresh water supply reduction, and much more [4]. The worst part is since Industrial revolution in 1900s we are experiencing exponential growth in global emissions.
Figure 3: Global green house gas emission (65% caused by fossil fuel and industrila activity) [4].
Figure 4: Global trend in carbon (greenhouse gas) emissions [4].
Harnessing fusion on earth would provide sustainable energy on a nearly unlimited scale to supply the needs of a growing world population. Fusion energy is safe, has no difficult waste issues and is climate friendly [4]. Fusion runs on hydrogen, and this fuel must be heated to immense temperatures – over 150 million degrees Celsius – to release its energy. Fusion power plant will basically provide the world with endless power supply and with help using sea water. Fusion power has various advantages [1]:
• The fuels are abundant, deuterium is found in seawater and tritium can be generated from lithium inside the reactor.
• The fuels are widely available and well spread-out on the globe, and as such pose little risk of geopolitical conflicts on a limited amount of fuel.
• The greenhouse gases such as CO2 emission are zero and environment friendly.
• Fusion does not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste.
• The power plants are very totally safe because Fusion is not a chain reaction, so unlike fission, a ‘melt down’ is not possible
Figure 5: Fusion power benefits
Can we generate fusion power to fulfill earth power demands?
Yes we can generate power on earth using fusion reaction. This has been achieved using different methodologies and this can be achieved using three key steps:
- Generate Plasma
- Apply Pressure to the plasma
- Repeat this process to continuously generating power
Figure 6 : How can we keep generating power with fusion [6].
What are the competing technologies?
The fusion on the face of the earth has been successfully generated with help of two methodologies (i) Magnetic confinement and (ii) Inertial confinement. These technologies are further divided into 4 key technologies with which can generate power with fusion.
Figure 7: Methodologies and technologies for generating fusion power.
Till now the TOKMAK and STELLARATOR technologies based on Magnetic confinement are the two technologies that have achieved considerable attention from global scientific community. We can state that for sure that TOKMAK and STELLARATOR are the two main competing technologies to deliver fusion power and are being developed in parallel.
Wendelstein 7-X STELLARATOR
The Wendelstein 7-X fusion device produced the first helium plasma on December 10, 2015 successfully. Wendelstein 7-X is the world’s largest stellarator-type fusion device. Its objective is to investigate the suitability of this type of device as a power generator. It took 19 years to built the wendelstein Z-X stellarator [7].
Figure 8 : Wendelstein 7-X STELLARATOR [7].
This first plasma had duration of one tenth of a second and achieved a temperature of around one million degrees Celsius (1.8 million Fahrenheit) [8].
Source: Al-Jazeera English YouTube Channel
Source: Science Magazine YouTube Channel
Source: Futurism Vimeo channel
ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) TOKMAK
However, the biggest effort to achieve fusion on global level is termed as ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). ITER is a TOKMAK technology is the biggest machine that will bring the plasma to fusion temperatures (between 150 and 300 million °C) 10 times hotter compared the core of the Sun and will produce 500MW of fusion power. First developed by Soviet research in the late 1960s, the tokamak has been adopted around the world as the most promising configuration of magnetic fusion device. ITER will be the world's largest tokamak—twice the size of the largest machine currently in operation, with ten times the plasma chamber volume [9].
Figure 9: ITER world largest TOKMAK with plasma 10 times hotter compared the core of the Sun [9].
What is the cost until now and Who is funding it?
Wendelstein 7-X and ITER both are state funded and internationally funded projects.
Construction of the ITER Tokamak complex started in 2013,and the building costs are now over US$14 billion as of June 2015 [9]. ITER has seven member entities that include the European Union, India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. The EU, as host party for the ITER complex, is contributing about 45 percent of the cost, with the other six parties contributing approximately 9 percent each.
Wendelstein 7-X total cost across the 19 year span is 1.06 €1.06 billion and is owned by German state. Financial support for the project is about 80% from Germany and about 20% from the European Union. 90% of German funding comes from the federal government and 10% from the state government of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The total investment for the stellarator itself over 1997–2014 amounted to €370 million. In July 2011, the President of the Max Planck Society, Peter Gruss, announced that the United States would contribute $7.5 million under the program "Innovative Approaches to Fusion" of the United States Department of Energy.
When fusion power plants will become a reality (Why is it so difficult to achieve fusion on earth)?
Fusion is definitely a game changer for global power production however several scientific and engineering challenges lies ahead before it can power homes and businesses.
Figure 10: Summary of challenges facing the fusion power.
Read this to understand more about challenges facing fusion power: https://www.iop.org/publications/iop/2008/file_38224.pdf
Source: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Conclusion
The global energy market is worth $5-6 trillion a year: somebody will make a lot of money out of this opportunity. With help of Fusion power plant it will be clean power that will not contribute to greenhouse gas emission that is devastation this earth environment.
However, with current challenges and slow pace development we are seeing 20-30 year minimum until we get power in our home this is originates at fusion power plants.
Maybe I am wrong and this guy is true and we only have to wait only 5 years?
Source: Seeker YouTube Channel
Works Cited
[1] N. Energy, „Nuclear Fusion,“ [Online]. Available: https://nuclear-energy.net/what-is-nuclear-energy/nuclear-fusion. [Zugriff am July 2017].
[2] R. Rapier, „World Sets Record For Fossil Fuel Consumption,“ [Online]. Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2016/06/08/world-sets-record-for-fossil-fuel-consumption/#28f3b19c365f.
[3] IEA, „Oil,“ 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.iea.org/about/faqs/oil/. [Zugriff am July 2017].
[4] EPA, „Global Emissions by Gas,“ United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2016. [Online]. Available: https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data. [Zugriff am July 2017].
[5] EU, „Research Areas: Nuclear Fusion,“ European Comission, [Online]. Available: https://ec.europa.eu/research/energy/index.cfm?pg=area&areaname=fusion. [Zugriff am 30 June 2017].
[6] Energy.gov, „How Does Fusion Energy Work,“ 2016. [Online]. Available: https://energy.gov/articles/how-does-fusion-energy-work. [Zugriff am 2017].
[7] J. Lim, „Wendelstein 7-X: The World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor Comes to Life,“ 15 December 2015. [Online]. Available: https://futurism.com/19364/. [Zugriff am 15 July 2017].
[8] D. Clery, „The bizarre reactor that might save nuclear fusion,“ 21 October 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/bizarre-reactor-might-save-nuclear-fusion. [Zugriff am 07 July 2017].
[9] ITER, „WHAT IS A TOKAMAK?,“ [Online]. Available: https://www.iter.org/mach/tokamak. [Zugriff am July 2017].
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