Sophie Kendall-Price 12GR the Future of Fusion
The Future of Fusion Power
With the rapid growth of world population, and demands for energy reaching an all-time high, a new, clean energy source is needed now more than ever. Concerns over climate change and the depletion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, have caused numerous scientists to turn their eyes to brand new ways of producing energy, particularly ones that are renewable and environmentally friendly. Already alternative methods have been developed and are in use by electricity companies across the globe. A “study, carried out by Mark Jacobson of the atmosphere and energy programme at Stanford University, found wind power to be by far the most desirable source of energy” (Brahic, 2009), supplying 3% of global electricity and predicted to have “four-time increase in wind power capacity by 2020” (Rueter, 2012). However there are many disadvantages to these new renewable energy sources; wind energy, for example, is thought to be unreliable as you need wind to power the turbines. Therefore scientists and politicians alike are searching for a method that can rejuvenate the energy market and reduce our necessity on fossil fuels, providing a clean and reliable future. This method could be nuclear fusion.
The idea of utilising nuclear fusion as a way to generate energy has been around ever since Einstein came up with his famous E=mc2 equation in 1905. Further work by Sir Arthur Eddington and German physicist Hans Bethe led to a detailed explanation of fusion energy in stars. After many unsuccessful attempts in early 1930s and after the Second World War, interest in fusion energy increased. Research during the 1940s and 1950s and the Zero Energy Toroidal Assembly (ZETA) showed hope for the future and the Atoms for Peace conference in Geneva in 1958 was the start of an international collaboration. When Russian scientists Tamm and Sakharov announced the use of a new type of magnetic confinement device called a tokamak in 1968, it was a key breakthrough for studying fusion. The Joint European Torus (JET) was launched in Europe in 1978 and stood to be the frontier of fusion ZETA Device, (no date). [online image]. Available at: research holding the world record for the most power produced via fusion
The term ‘nuclear energy’ has over the past 70 years had many negative connotations, the most common being radioactivity. However in reality, nuclear fission would be a more apt expression. Whereas nuclear fission is the process which splits the atom, producing large amount of radioactive waste, fusion is a process where two or more small nuclei fuse together to form other particles resulting in an incredible amount of energy being released. Harnessing this energy could supply millions of people with power, ultimately ending our dependence on fossil fuels. Similar reactions happen in our Sun and other stars and it Diagram showing how the two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium provides them with energy. In order for fusion and tritium, fuse together to produce a helium nucleus, a neutron, to occur, the small nuclei need to be and energy. superheated to temperatures over 100 million˚C, which is 10 times hotter than the helium core of the Sun. This strips away the electrons deuterium from atoms and creates a hot gas of positively charged nuclei and free negatively charged + = energy tritium electrons called plasma. Plasma is vital in the process of fusion as the extremely high temperatures help the nuclei come together. As neutron you would think, forcing two small positively Reproduction (drawn by myself on Microsoft Publisher) of a diagram charged nuclei together is a challenge. To do on page 35 of Morton, A., 2005. Splitting the Atom. London: Evans Brothers Limited. so, you need to overcome the strong repulsive
Sophie Kendall-Price 12GR electrostatic forces between them. If you can force the nuclei close enough to one another, they become within range of the strong nuclear force which then pulls the nuclei together (BBC, 2009). By superheating the plasma, you are giving the nuclei large amounts of energy which they use to overcome the electrostatic force and then combine.
In most nuclear fusion reactions aimed to produce electricity, isotopes of hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium are the small nuclei used. Deuterium is most commonly found in water where more than one atom per ten thousand hydrogen atoms has a deuterium nucleus (University of Gothenburg, 2009). Scientists at the University of Gothenburg (2009) have produced ultra-dense deuterium which is “a million times denser than frozen deuterium, making it relatively easy to create a nuclear fusion reaction using high-power pulses of laser light”. Leif Holmlid of the university states “we believe that we can design the deuterium fusion such that it produces only helium and hydrogen as its products, both of which are completely non-hazardous” (University of Gothenburg, 2009). Therefore by using this new form of fuel, fusion is becoming a more likely approach to energy production.
Unfortunately, as with every solution, there are problems which need to be overcome with utilising fusion effectively as a source of electricity. One drawback has been controlling the plasma. The two main successful approaches are: by using a doughnut-shaped container called a tokamak and, by using high powered lasers (Solway, 2011). The tokamak was first invented by Russian scientists Tamm and Sakharov in 1968 (Euratom Nuclear Research, unknown date). It uses strong magnetic fields to control the plasma. As plasma is extremely hot ionised gas, the magnetic Diagram of the inside of a tokamak fields attract and repel it accordingly and stop it from touching (Farrell, 2009) and thus melting the walls of the container. The second method is by using lasers. Some lasers fire directly at a fuel pellet, heating it up, and others hold the fuel in place (Solway, 2011). This approach has been used by JET. The main barrier before the success of fusion power is a technological one. Engineers and physicists have been able to identify the problems and yet don’t know how to solve them yet. However many predict that the future holds the answers and that we will eventually overcome them.
Currently, fossil fuels provide the main bulk of our world’s energy; according to the International Energy Agency (IEA, 2009), 85% of the methods used to supply the world with energy in 2009 were coal, oil and natural gas. Energy experts project that by 2100, the global energy demand will at least double and may even quadruple (Clarke, et al., 2009). This combined with the rapid depletion of oil and coal could provoke an energy crisis which, if we do not solve, could lead to further global dilemmas. One of the great advantages of fusion power is the potential amount of energy it could produce. For example, according to the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, “one litre of ordinary water contains enough deuterium to provide the energy content (when fused with tritium) of more than 500 litres of petrol”. With this potential, the need for other sources of electricity will not be required. Moreover, if enough energy is produced via a fusion reaction, and it continues to do so over long periods of time, then the power stations will become self-sustainable. This will mean that no waste products or harmful gases will be released resulting in a clean, environmentally friendly method of generating electricity.
Over the past 40 years there have been many successful projects that have aimed to research and study fusion and its capability as an energy source. In 1978, JET was launched through a collaboration of European countries. It became the site of the very first plasma of 25th June 1983, and the world’s first controlled release of fusion energy took place on 9th November 1991 (EFDA, N/A). According to the EDFA, “six years later, in 1997, another world record was achieved at JET: 16 megawatts of fusion power were produced from a total input power of 24 megawatts – a 65 % ratio”. Following JET’s success, the first international fusion project known as ITER was created. ITER is a large-scale
Sophie Kendall-Price 12GR scientific experiment that aims to demonstrate that it is possible to produce commercial energy from fusion (ITER, 2012). It is currently being built in the south of France and hopes to be operational in 2020. During its operational lifetime, ITER will test key technologies necessary for the next step: the demonstration fusion power plant that will prove that it is possible to capture fusion energy for commercial use. Plans have already been made for the power plant known as DEMO, and scientists predict that it could be running in 2030 and that the first commercial power station could be ready by 2050 (ITER, 2012).
Many scientists such as Martin O'Brien, the fusion programme manager at the UK Atomic Energy Authority believe that the advantages of fusion power outweigh the disadvantages and that “fusion is increasingly recognised internationally as a possible long term clean energy supply” (Gray, 2008). Professor Nick Braithwaite, a plasma physicist from the Open University says that even though “in our lifetimes…we might just not quite see (fusion power) as a viable, commercial (source)…within 20 years…we should know very clearly how the landscape lies; we’ll know how to do it” (BBC, 2009)
However, despite positive outlooks on the future of fusion, there are still some who have their doubts on its success. William Parkins, a physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project and was the chief scientist at Rockwell International, adamantly believed that there is no future for fusion power. He wrote that "The history of this dream is as discouraging as it is expensive," in his paper which was posthumously published in the journal Science (Chandler, 2006).
So although there are some contrary opinions, the future of fusion power looks bright with many physicists and engineers working hard to achieve the goal of safe and efficient fusion that will be able to generate electricity. However is the cost too high? With over €13 billion being spent on the construction of ITER (Cowley, 2010), is fusion the fuel of the future? Personally, I think fusion is arguably the most efficient and effective way to power the world and I fully believe that someday in the future, fusion power stations will be a reality.
Sophie Kendall-Price 12GR
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Sophie Kendall-Price 12GR
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Sophie Kendall-Price 12GR