Ever since the beacon of innovations during the industrial revolution, we have aimed to
achieve greater mega projects that factor in our growing population and its energy usage.
Around 30 years ago, a group of industrial nations decided to take on a project and develop
a new, cleaner, and more sustainable source of energy. This is how ITER or the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the world’s largest nuclear fusion project came into existence.
So, let's take a look at what it is and why it is the most significant mega project in
the history of our entire civilization.
In southern France, about 35 nations have collaborated in building the world’s largest
tokamak device. This machine is a magnetic fusion device that is designed to prove the
feasibility of fusion on a large scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the
principle that powers our Stars and Sun. So, what this means is that we will be able to
create the same amount of energy as it is being emitted from our Sun. But how will that
be even possible? To answer this, we must first look at the process of fusion and how
the tokamak reactor will yield and sustain such energy output.
Essentially, fusion is the energy source of the Sun and stars. Within the core of these
stellar bodies, tremendous heat and gravity fuse lighter elements such as hydrogen into
heavier elements such as helium, which releases enormous amount of energy in the process.
There are three main criteria’s that must be fulfilled in order to achieve fusion in
a laboratory. First, a very high temperature reaching about a hundred fifty million degrees
Celsius (150,000,000° Celsius). Second, a sufficient plasma particle density in order
for collisions to occur. And lastly, sufficient confinement time to hold the plasma, which
has a tendency to expand with a defined volume. Through this process electrons are separated
from nuclei which turns gas into plasma, this is often referred to as the fourth state of
matter. These fusion plasmas provide the environment in which light elements can fuse and yield
energy. So, tokamak is the device that takes the main criteria’s into account and is
able to produce powerful magnetic fields that are used to confine and control the plasma.
The term "tokamak" comes from a Russian acronym that stands for "toroidal chamber with magnetic
coils." It was first developed by the Soviet researchers in the late 1960s. Ever since
then, 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 to date with it being
twice the size of the largest machine currently in operation, with ten times the plasma chamber
volume. Inside this experimental machine, the energy
produced through the fusion of atoms is absorbed as heat in the walls of the vessel. This heat
then produces steam and then electricity through turbines and generators, similar to our conventional
power plants today. Physicists use the tokamak’s doughnut-shaped vacuum chamber to shape and
control the plasma by the massive coils placed around the vessel, which confines the hot
plasma away from the vessel walls. The components of the reactor include a 100ft-diameter cryostat
device intended to surround the reactor in order to keep its vital components from overheating.
Furthermore, central solenoid magnets are responsible for inducing and stabilizing the
superheated plasma. The tokamak will draw 50 megawatts of electricity to ignite the
fusion process in producing stable plasma. This plasma would then put out some 500 megawatts
of power in short intervals, thereby generating a whopping 10 times energy return.
So, what is this megaproject going to accomplish for us? Well, the core goal of ITER is to
produce a ten-fold return on energy. It will also demonstrate the integrated operation
of technologies for a fusion power plant. As well as achieve a deuterium-tritium plasma
in which the reaction is sustained through internal heating. This will offer scientists
a unique opportunity to chart new territory in controlled nuclear fusion. One of the missions
for the later stages of ITER operation is to demonstrate the feasibility of producing
tritium within the vacuum vessel. If successful, tritium will be used to cover the needs of
future power plants.
The construction of the ITER has been underway since 2010. The first phase includes the assembly
of the core machine as well as the installation of all plant systems needed for the First
Plasma generation in December 2025. This phase will be followed by operation in deuterium
with a small amount of tritium to test wall-shielding provisions by 2035. Finally, scientists will
launch a third phase with increasingly frequent operation with an equal mixture of deuterium
and tritium, at full fusion power.
The ITER project has inspired many smaller enterprises to develop their versions of fusion
generation technology. These include UK-based Tokamak Energy, California-based Tri Alpha
Energy by Microsoft, and Google. Moreover, Canada’s General Fusion uses a vortex of
molten lead and lithium for its plasma containment design which has attracted the support of
Amazon. America’s Lockheed Martin is in the midst of developing a secretive compact
fusion reactor no bigger than a truck that it claims will be ready for testing by 2028.
But it all started with ITER, leading the fusion generation technology. The ITER projects
large-scale international cooperation is an example of how scientific research knows no
geographic borders. This model was and should be adopted in other areas of science for us
to advance further as a civilization.
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content like this! When do you think, we will be able to master the fusion technology? Let
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