teams on two continents have reached a
similar milestone in their efforts to
access a vital energy headwater in the
combat against climate change they've
both constructed massive magnets welcome
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today we are looking at the massive
milestone magnetic fusion has achieved
so far in our world presently
before we take it any further let's
comprehend the subject what is magnetic
fusion and how does it work nuclear
fusion generates energy by releasing
heat when hydrogen nuclei converted into
the plasma state of matter fuse to make
helium the stellarator is based on an
optimized magnetic field that protects
the hot plasma from the cold wall
complex superconducting magnetic field
coils create the magnetic field it is
one of two types of magnetic confinement
fusion reactors under development today
these coils produce a ring-shaped
twisted magnetic cage in which a few
milligrams of hydrogen gas will be
raised by heating the temperature as
high as 100 million degrees celsius
converting it to plasma wendell stein 7x
seeks to demonstrate the crucial
stellarator property continuous
operation with stable high performance
with plasma pulses lasting up to 30
minutes
what is the project's purpose the
wendelstein 7x accelerator is one of the
world's largest nuclear fusion devices
and the most advanced of its kind its
goal is to bring the stellarator concept
to fruition in a power plant that
generates energy by fusing hydrogen
nuclei and harnessing the heat generated
is this project still in the early
stages of development
the project received approval in 1996
and the first plasma was created in
december of that year after three
successful operational phases the
machine's thorough upgrade commenced at
the end of 2018. plasma operation is
planned to begin in 2022
once the necessary infrastructure for 30
minute high performance plasma pulses
has been installed with a successful
demonstration of a critical technology a
highly powerful magnet that uses very
little energy fusion took a significant
step ahead in its transition from the
lab to commercial viability commonwealth
fusion systems cfs and the massachusetts
institute of technology's plasma science
and fusion center psfc announced on
wednesday that the test was completed at
the mit plasma science and fusion center
in cambridge massachusetts on sunday at
6 a.m the magnet achieved 20 teslas
during the test which is a unit of
measurement for a magnet's strength it's
named after the engineer nikola tesla
just like the car firm for comparison
the magnetic field of a standard mri or
magnetic resonance imaging scan is 12
times higher at 20 teslas
it accomplished so using just
approximately 30 watts of energy which
is several orders of magnitude less than
the standard copper conducting magnet
that mit had previously tested which
consumed 200 million watts
on the following thursday scientists at
the international thermonuclear
experimental reactor in southern france
received the first section of a gigantic
magnet capable of lifting an aircraft
carrier according to its american maker
the magnet which stands about 60 feet
tall and has a diameter of 14 feet when
fully completed is a critical component
in the 35 nation effort to master
nuclear fusion separately this week mit
scientists and a private business
claimed that they too had achieved a
breakthrough with the successful test of
the world's strongest high temperature
superconducting magnet the team's magnet
could allow them to beat iter to the
finish line in the race to build a sun
on earth fusion proponents claim that
unlike existing fission nuclear reactors
which produce radioactive waste and
occasionally catastrophic meltdowns it
provides a clean and almost endless
supply of energy
if scientists and engineers can figure
out a way to harness it that is they've
been working on this problem for nearly
a century
rather than dividing atoms fusion
resembles the natural process in which
two hydrogen atoms fuse together to form
a single helium atom as well as a lot of
energy fusion necessitates enormous
amounts of heat and pressure converting
hydrogen into an electrically charged
plasma or gas and controlling it in a
donut shaped vacuum chamber is one way
to accomplish this this was accomplished
with the help of powerful
superconducting magnets like the central
solenoid that general atomics began
exporting to france this summer from san
diego according to experts iter is now
about 76 complete and they plan to start
up the reactor in early
2026. each important first of a kind
component completed such as the first
module of the central solenoid builds a
level of confidence in the ability to
accomplish the complicated engineering
of the entire machine by 2035 the
leading goal is to create 10 times more
energy than is required to heat the
plasma demonstrating that fusion
technology is feasible the massachusetts
team which claims to have created a
magnetic field double that of iter with
a magnet 40 times smaller is one of many
trying to beat them to the prize in the
early 2030s mit and commonwealth fusion
system experts believe they will have a
device ready for everyday usage this was
not planned to be scientific
experimentation but rather a commercial
venture while iter is not designed to
generate electricity it will serve as a
model for comparable but more complex
reactors if it is successful proponents
of the project claim that even if it
fails the countries involved will have
acquired technical abilities that may be
used in a variety of sectors including
particle physics and the production of
new materials that can survive the sun's
heat the united states china south korea
russia india japan and much of europe
all contribute to the project's 20
billion dollar costs and gain mutually
from the scientific achievements and
intellectual property developed the
major solenoid is one of the 12 primary
us contributions to iter all of which
are built by american companies and
funded by congress to support american
jobs having the first module securely
transported to the iter site is such a
triumph said john smith head of
engineering and projects at general
atomics every component of the
production process has to be developed
from the ground up years were spent
inventing new technologies and methods
to manufacture and transport the large
magnet parts around their factory and
subsequently around the world the
magnet's coils weigh 250 000 pounds
the engineering expertise gained over
this time will be invaluable for future
projects of this magnitude
iter's goal is to show that fusion can
be a viable and economically feasible
source of energy but we're already
thinking about the next step that will
be crucial to making fusion commercially
viable and there is already a slew of
fantastic suggestions for how to get
there according to frederick fordery who
led the design and building of another
fiendishly complicated scientific
equipment cern's large hadron collider
nuclear energy burst fission then fusion
is still the world's greatest hope for
lowering greenhouse gas emissions to
zero by 2050. in relation to the
consequences of climate change the cost
of iter is a drop in the bucket he
remarked we'll have to come up with the
cash
well if fusion can be achieved and
commercialized on earth it will give a
nearly limitless supply of clean energy
without the trash that nuclear fission
produces which can last thousands of
years
magnets contain and insulate burning
plasma for nuclear fusion reactions in a
takamak a donut shaped fusion engine
till now all of the energy produced by
fusion reactions has been used to start
and maintain the process
according to cfs and mit's psfc
scientists and engineers the good
performance of their novel magnet
technology is a major step in their
technological development of
commercialized fusion this isn't a
marketing ploy it's the truth with
advancements in the fusion business
we're seeing the birth of a new clean
sustainable and always available energy
source
arc the country's first fusion power
plant is expected to be operational in
the early 2030s that's it folks on the
magnetic fusion milestone
do you think there will be a tremendous
upgrade from these labs by the end of
the year
let us know your observations and
thoughts in the comment section below if
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