The nuclear fusion race is on DOE expert explains

Tokamak reactorsThe majority of countries are pursuing a version of the tokamak reactor. Originally designed in 1950 by Russian physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov, the tokamak device controls fusion using electromagnets that keep the fuel in a small region. Cooling for the excess heat produced by the reaction is produced using liquid helium and nitrogen.The benefitsThe benefits of workable fusion energy are a lower dependence on fossil fuels, lower final costs of electricity, abundant long term fuel (deuterium from water) for the reactor, a massive reduction in greenhouse gas production that is estimated to exceed 75 percent of coal based electrical production, and no potential for nuclear meltdown like fission reactors.The challengesThe challenges for each country are the development of computer codes to guide the design of DEMO plants, development of material for the interior of the plants, selecting the methods for extracting fusion power, defining methods for handling the exhaust from fusion reactions, and determining the requirements for devices to develop DEMO components.View the list »
Plot of the fusion reaction rate (average of cross-section times speed) vs. temperature for three common reactions. The average is over Maxwellian ion distributions with the appropriate temperature

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Physicist George "Hutch" Neilson, director of advanced projects at the U. S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, presented an overview of the present state of nuclear fusion energy production and the future of fusion energy at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston on Feb. 16, 2013.

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Neilson and a worldwide group of nuclear physicists outlined present plans for the development of workable fusion reactors.

The scientists claim that fusion to electricity will be a reality in less than 50 years.

China, Russia, India, Japan, the United States, and France have programs that are funded and planned to develop working fusion power plants within the next 20 to 50 years.

To date each country has developed a Demonstration Power Plant (DEMO) model that will be constructed and tested with the goal of developing power plants to demonstrate the viability and safety of nuclear fusion as the power source of the future.

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  • The challengesThe challenges for each country are the development of computer codes to guide the design of DEMO plants, development of material for the interior of the plants, selecting the methods for extracting fusion power, defining methods for handling the exhaust from fusion reactions, and determining the requirements for devices to develop DEMO components.
  • The benefitsThe benefits of workable fusion energy are a lower dependence on fossil fuels, lower final costs of electricity, abundant long term fuel (deuterium from water) for the reactor, a massive reduction in greenhouse gas production that is estimated to exceed 75 percent of coal based electrical production, and no potential for nuclear meltdown like fission reactors.
  • Tokamak reactorsThe majority of countries are pursuing a version of the tokamak reactor. Originally designed in 1950 by Russian physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov, the tokamak device controls fusion using electromagnets that keep the fuel in a small region. Cooling for the excess heat produced by the reaction is produced using liquid helium and nitrogen.
  • Fusion neutron sourceRussia plans to develop a fusion neutron source device. This is what is commonly called cold fusion. Many elements spontaneously produce neutrons. The heat for electrical production is generated from a directed beam of neutrons. Small scale devices of this type have been developed and are in use presently at several universities worldwide including the United States.
  • ITERThe European Union, the United States and five other countries are constructing of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project (ITER) facility in France. Plans call for ITER to produce 500 million watts of fusion power for some 300 second during the 2020s. Success of the DEMO at ITER will proceed to the development of systems that can provide cheap abundant electricity to all of Europe.
  • The competitionChina plans for a device called China's Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) that would develop the technology for a demonstration fusion power plant. Construction of the CFETR could start around 2020 and be followed by operation of a DEMO in the 2030s.Europe and Japan have joint programs for building a powerful tokamak called JT-60SA in Naka, Japan, as a complement to ITER. Plans call for construction to be completed in 2019.India could begin building a device called SST-2 to develop components for a DEMO around 2027. India could start construction of a DEMO in 2037.Korea plans to build a machine that it calls K-DEMO that would develop components in the first phase, called K-DEMO-1, and utilize the components in the second phase, or K-DEMO 2. Construction could commence in the mid-to-late 2020s, with operations starting in the middle 2030s.Russia plans to develop a fusion neutron source (FNS), a facility that would produce neutrons, the chief form of energy created by fusion reactions, in preparation for a DEMO. The FNS project is part of a Russian commercial development strategy that runs to 2050.The United States is considering a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF). It would be used to investigate materials properties under fusion conditions, and develop components for a DEMO. Construction of the FNSF could start in the 2020s.
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, Birmingham Science News Examiner

Bryan Hamaker is a Chemist and Mathematician.

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