What are the "miniature suns" that generate clean, cheap energy

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According to some companies in the technology sector, we have only five years left to exploit the almost unlimited power of "miniature suns" through nuclear fusion reactors, which could provide abundant, cheap and clean energy. huge nuclear fusion reactor. Can we mimic your energy production process on Earth? "Src =" https://p2.trrsf.com/image/fget/cf/460/0/images.terra.com/2018/12/27/104357655gettyimages-520222808 .jpg "title =" Our Sun is a huge nuclear fusion reactor. Can we mimic your energy production process on Earth? "Width =" 460 "/>

Our Sun is a huge nuclear fusion reactor. Can we mimic your energy production process on Earth?

In the face of global warming caused by our dependence on fossil fuels, it is urgent to find alternative and sustainable sources of energy.

If we do not, the future seems to be dark for millions of people, lack of water and food leading to hunger and war.

Nuclear fusion has been announced as a possible answer to our prayers. But it has always been something viable "in 30 years", according to a current joke in this sector.

Now, many start-ups as they are called tech start-ups, say they can make nuclear fusion a commercial reality long before that.

What is nuclear fusion?

This method involves the fusion of atomic nuclei to release large amounts of energy, which is likely to solve our crisis. It's the same source of energy from the Sun and it's a clean process – that is, it does not emit pollutants – and relatively harmless.

But to force the fusion of these nuclei – deuterium and tritium, two isotopes of hydrogen – under immense pressure, it takes enormous amounts of energy, more than we have could generate up to now.



Nuclear fusion produces enormous amounts of energy, but it is difficult to achieve and control "src =" https://p2.trrsf.com/image/fget/cf/460/0 / Fusionterra.com/2018/12/27/104355796gettyimages-1002107858.jpg "title =" Nuclear fusion produces enormous amounts of energy, but it is difficult to achieve and control. " </p> <p><small clbad= Reaching the point of "energy gain", in which we generate more energy than we spend on it in this process, has been somewhat difficult to achieve. "We are at a turning point," said Christofer Mowry, president of General Fusion, a Canadian company that aims to demonstrate that nuclear fusion is achievable in the United States. companies in nuclear fusion merger.

"The maturation of science, combined with the emergence of 21st century technologies, such as 3D printing and high-temperature superconductors, prevents nuclear fusion"



The science behind nuclear fusion is ripe, but there are still practical problems to be solved

Science behind nuclear fusion is ripe, but there are still practical challenges to be solved

The science involved has been proven, says Wade Allison, professor of physics at Keble College in Oxford, England.

Photo: TOKAMAK ENERGY / BBC News Brazil

The challenge of realizing this idea is more practical

"We can not be certain of the delay, but the basic science is solved and the problems are technical, related to materials, "says Allison.

A big challenge is to build a structure strong enough to contain the plasma – the very high temperature nuclear soup in which fusion reactions occur – under the enormous pressures needed.

"Exhaust systems will have to withstand heat levels similar to those of a spaceship returning into the atmosphere," said Ian Chapman, executive director of the UK Atomic Energy Authority. (UKAEA).

Robotic maintenance systems will also be needed, as well as fuel generation, recovery and storage.

"The UKAEA is investigating these problems and building new research facilities at the Culham Science Center near Oxford to develop solutions with the sector," says Chapman.

So, what has changed?

Some private firms claim to overcome these practical challenges in (19459025) tokamaks ), which use high temperature superconductors (HTS) and high temperature superconductors (HTS) to contain plasma in a very powerful magnetic field .



Tokamak Energy attempts to build compact and cheaper fusion reactors

Tokamak Energy attempts to build cheaper and more compact fusion reactors

"High temperature" in the context of this branch of physics means a very intense cold of -70ºC or less. "A spherical tokamak has a much more efficient format, and we can dramatically improve their compactness."

"They have been the best performers to date," says Jonathan Carling, "

The company built three tokamaks to date, with the third, the ST40, made of stainless steel 30 In June, the temperature in the plasma reached more than 15 million degrees Celsius, a temperature higher than that of the heart of the Sun.

The company plans to reach 100 million degrees Celsius, a feat that Chinese scientists claim to have accomplished this month 19659006] "We hope to reach the point of" energy gain "by 2022 and start supplying energy for commercial purposes by 2030. "

In the United States, the Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is collaborating with the American company Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to develop Sparc, a tokamak in the form of. ring with magnetic fields capable of keep a hot plasma in place.

Funded in part by the Breakthrough Energy Ventures investment fund, led by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires, the team hopes to develop nuclear fusion reactors small enough to be built in factories and shipped.

Project with 35 countries

These private companies are competing with the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), the world's largest nuclear fusion project involving 35 countries.



The Iter nuclear fusion reactor will not be completed by 2025

The Iter nuclear fusion reactor will not be completed by 2025

Iter, which means "the way" in Latin, is the largest experimental nuclear fusion facility in the world, but should not begin to operate until 2025, and any commercial application

" ITERs have different levels of urgency to use the merger as part of a clean energy future, "said a spokesman for the initiative at BBC News

are waiting for the merger to provide electricity by 2050. For others, it will only be something for the second half of this century. "

The beginners of this market think they can do better. "With the new HTS magnetic technology, a power gain fusion device can be much smaller," says Martin Greenwald, deputy director of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center.

One Size "Fewer means mean lower costs, opening the field of nuclear fusion to" smaller, more agile organizations, "says Greenwald.

But everyone seems to agree that the work of ITER, Culham and the private sector is complementary.

"In the end, we all share the same dream that fusion electricity is an essential part of a clean energy future," the spokesman said. ; Iter.

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