If everything goes according to plan, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) will be one step closer to the world’s first functioning nuclear fusion reactor this summer when scientists conduct its first test runs.
Nuclear fusion has traditionally been used as the core scientific principle behind thermonuclear warheads. But the same technology that powers our weapons of mass destruction could, in theory, be used to power our cities. This would be the first fusion reactor that can produce more energy than is required to operate.
If we can safely build and operate fusion reactors, we could almost certainly solve the global energy crisis for good. But that’s a big if.
Fusion is difficult
When the nuclei of two atoms fuse together, they release an incredible amount of energy. The big idea behind a fusion reactor is to use a relatively small amount of energy to release an immense amount. This is how the sun and other stars work – that is why they are so bright and give off so much heat.
Restoring the cosmos in a laboratory is an incredibly complex task, but at its core it’s about finding the right materials for the job and figuring out how to force the desired response on useful scales.
ITER could change everything
Scientists do not expect operation with low power consumption at the ITER site until 2025. However, the first test runs will begin in June of this year.
This summer, researchers from EUROfusion will start the Joint European Torus (JET), a separate experiment with which the fuel and material requirements for the ITER experiment will be precisely set before the upcoming start.
The main difference between JET and ITER is the order of magnitude. While JET was paramount, the beginning of ITER design became an integral part of the JET experiment. Scientists shut down JET for a period of months to redesign it to work with the ITER project.
In this way, JET is a kind of proof-of-concept for ITER. If all goes well, the researchers can solve important problems like fuel economy and response optimization.
But fusion is difficult
The fusion solution isn’t just about finding the right fuel mix – but that really is most of it. The conditions for controlled nuclear fusion are much more difficult to achieve than, for example, just turning it into a warhead that explodes. However, this is more of a technical and technical problem than a safety concern.
In theory, nuclear fusion reactors are completely safe. The type of hazardous radiation or reactor meltdowns that can occur with the fission are essentially impossible with the fusion.
The real problem is that it has to be done just right to produce enough energy to be useful. And of course it has to be controlled so that it doesn’t produce too much. This is easy if you envision a one-to-one cores merger. But even modern supercomputers struggle to simulate fusion on a scale large enough to be useful.
What’s next
As soon as JET kicks off this summer, we will have the opportunity to resolve some of these issues. And then, in 2025, ITER will begin a ten-year service cycle in which hydrogen reactions will be carried out with low power consumption.
During this time, scientists will monitor the system while examining a multidisciplinary approach to solving the various technical problems that arise. Central to these efforts is the creation of machine learning systems and artificial intelligence models that can be used to perform the simulations required to scale fusion systems.
Eventually, when the ITER team has enough data and intelligence in 2035, they will swap the reactor’s hydrogen fuel source for deuterium and tritium, two atoms that offer much more clout.
If everything goes according to plan, within a few decades we could swap the global energy crisis for a fusion-driven abundance.
Published on March 23, 2021 – 22:54 UTC
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