Innovative projects using modern superconductors in the near future will allow the implementation of controlled thermonuclear fusion - as some optimists say. Experts, however, predict that the practical application will take several decades.
Why is it so hard?
Fusion energy is considered a potential source of energy for the future. This is the pure energy of the atom. But what is it and why is it so difficult to achieve? To begin with, we need to deal with the difference between classical nuclear fission and thermonuclear fusion.
The division of an atom consists in the fact that radioactive isotopes - uranium or plutonium - are split and converted into other highly radioactive isotopes, which must then be buried or processed.
The thermonuclear fusion reaction consists in the fact that two isotopes of hydrogen - deuterium and tritium - merge into a single whole, forming non-toxic helium and a single neutron, without generating radioactive waste.
Control problem
The reactions that take place on the Sun or in a hydrogen bomb are thermonuclear fusion, and the engineers face a daunting task - how to control this process in power plants?
This is what scientists have been working on since the 1960s. Another experimental fusion reactor called Wendelstein 7-X began work in the northern German city of Greifswald. It is not yet intended to create a reaction - it is just a special design that is being tested (a stellarator instead of a tokamak).
High energy plasma
All thermonuclear installations have a common feature - an annular shape. It is based on the idea of using powerful electromagnets to create a strong electromagnetic field shaped like a torus - an inflated bicycle chamber.
This electromagnetic field must be so dense that when it is heated in the microwave oven to one million degrees Celsius, plasma should appear in the very center of the ring. Then it is ignited so that fusion can begin.
Opportunity demonstration
In Europe, two similar experiments are currently underway. One of them is Wendelstein 7-X, which recently generated its first helium plasma. The other, ITER, is a huge fusion fusion pilot plant in southern France, which is still under construction and will be ready for launch in 2023.
It is assumed that real nuclear reactions will occur on ITER, however, only for a short period of time and certainly no longer than 60 minutes. This reactor is just one of many steps on the path to nuclear fusion in practice.
Thermonuclear Reactor: Less and More Powerful
Recently, several designers announced the creation of a new reactor design. According to a group of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as representatives of the Lockheed Martin arms manufacturing company, thermonuclear fusion can be carried out in plants that are much more powerful and smaller than ITER, and they are ready to do so within ten years.
The idea of the new design is to use modern high-temperature superconductors in electromagnets, which show their properties when cooled by liquid nitrogen, and not ordinary ones, which require liquid helium. New, more flexible technology will allow a complete change in the design of the reactor.
Klaus Hasch, who is responsible for nuclear fusion technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in southwestern Germany, is skeptical. It supports the use of new high temperature superconductors for new reactor designs. But, according to him, something to develop on a computer taking into account the laws of physics is not enough. It is necessary to take into account the challenges that arise when translating ideas into practice.
Science fiction
According to Hesh, the MIT student model only shows the feasibility of a project. But actually it has a lot of science fiction. The project suggests that serious technical problems of fusion have been resolved. But modern science has no idea how to solve them.
One such problem is the idea of collapsible coils. In order to get inside the plasma holding ring, the electromagnets can be disassembled in the MIT-design model.
This would be very useful, because one could have access to objects in the internal system and replace them. But in reality, superconductors are made of ceramic material. Hundreds of them must be intertwined in a sophisticated way to form the correct magnetic field. And here more fundamental difficulties arise: the connections between them are not as simple as the connections of copper cables. No one has ever thought about concepts that would help solve such problems.
Too hot
High temperature is also a problem. In the core of thermonuclear plasma, the temperature will reach about 150 million degrees Celsius. This extreme heat remains in place - right in the center of the ionized gas. But even around it it’s still very hot - from 500 to 700 degrees in the zone of the reactor, which is the inner layer of the metal pipe, in which tritium will be “reproduced”, which is necessary for nuclear fusion to take place.
A thermonuclear reactor has an even bigger problem - the so-called power output. This is the part of the system into which the used fuel, mainly helium, comes from the synthesis process. The first metal components into which hot gas enters are called a “divertor”. It can heat up over 2000 ° C.
Divertor problem
So that the installation can withstand such temperatures, engineers are trying to use metal tungsten, used in old-fashioned incandescent lamps. The melting point of tungsten is about 3000 degrees. But there are other limitations.
In ITER, this can be done, because the heating in it does not occur constantly. It is assumed that the reactor will operate only 1-3% of the time. But this is not an option for a power plant that should operate 24/7. And if someone claims to be able to build a smaller reactor with the same power as ITER, you can confidently say that he does not have a solution to the divertor problem.
Power plant in a few decades
Nevertheless, scientists are optimistic about the development of thermonuclear reactors, however, it will not be as fast as some enthusiasts predict.
ITER must show that controlled thermonuclear fusion can actually produce more energy than would be spent on plasma heating. The next step will be the construction of a completely new hybrid demonstration power plant that would actually generate electricity.
Engineers are already working on her design. They will have to learn from ITER, which is scheduled to be launched in 2023. Given the time required for design, planning and construction, it seems unlikely that the first thermonuclear power plant will be launched much earlier than the middle of the 21st century.
Cold thermonuclear fusion Rossi
In 2014, an independent test of the E-Cat reactor concluded that the device produced 3200 watts of output power on average for 32 days with a consumption of 900 watts. This is more than any chemical reaction can isolate. The result speaks either of a breakthrough in fusion, or of outright fraud. The report disappointed skeptics who doubted whether the test was truly independent and suggested a possible falsification of test results. Others began to find out the “secret ingredients” that make it possible to carry out thermonuclear fusion of Rossi in order to reproduce this technology.
Is Rossi a scam?
Andrea is impressive. He publishes appeals to the world in unique English in the comment section of his website, pretentiously titled The Journal of Nuclear Physics. But his previous unsuccessful attempts included an Italian project to turn garbage into fuel and a thermoelectric generator. Petroldragon, a project to recycle waste into an energy source, failed partly because the illegal dumping of waste was controlled by Italian organized crime, which opened a criminal case against him for violating waste management rules. He also created a thermoelectric device for the US Army Corps of Engineers, but during testing, the gadget produced only part of the declared power.
Many do not trust Rossi, and the chief editor of the New Energy Times directly called him a felon, who has behind him a series of unsuccessful energy projects.
Independent verification
Rossi signed a contract with Industrial Heat, an American company, to conduct one-year secret tests of a 1-MW cold fusion plant. The device was a shipping container packed with dozens of E-Cat. The experiment was supposed to be controlled by a third party, which could confirm that heat generation actually takes place. Rossi claims to have spent most of last year living almost in a container and monitoring operations for more than 16 hours a day to prove the commercial viability of the E-Cat.
The test ended in March. Supporters of Russia eagerly awaited the report of observers, hoping for an excuse for their hero. But in the end, they got a lawsuit.
Trial
In a statement to the Florida court, Rossi claims that the test was successful and an independent arbitrator confirmed that the E-Cat reactor produces six times more energy than it consumes. He also claimed that Industrial Heat agreed to pay him $ 100 million - 11.5 million in advance after a 24-hour test (supposedly for licensing rights so that the company could sell this technology in the USA) and another 89 million after the successful completion of the extended test within 350 days. Rossi accused IH of carrying out a “fraudulent scheme” whose purpose was to steal his intellectual property. He also accused the company of misappropriation of E-Cat reactors, illegal copying of innovative technologies and products, functionality and designs, and an unlawful attempt to obtain a patent for its intellectual property.
Goldmine
In another place, Rossi claims that amid one of his demonstrations, IH received $ 50-60 million from investors and another 200 million from China after a top-level Chinese reproduction. If this is true, then much more than a hundred million dollars is at stake. Industrial Heat rejected these claims as unfounded and intends to actively defend itself. More importantly, she claims that “for more than three years, she worked to confirm the results that Rossi supposedly achieved with her E-Cat technology, and all to no avail.”
IH does not believe in the performance of the E-Cat, and New Energy Times sees no reason to doubt it. In June 2011, a representative of the publication visited Italy, interviewed Rossi and filmed a demonstration of his E-Cat. A day later, he announced his serious concerns regarding the method of measuring thermal power. After 6 days, the journalist posted his video on YouTube. Experts from around the world sent him analyzes that were published in July. It became clear that it was a hoax.
Experimental confirmation
Nevertheless, a number of researchers - Alexander Parkhomov from the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia and the Martin Fleishman Memorial Project (MFPM) - managed to reproduce Rossi's cold fusion synthesis. The MFPM report was titled "The End of the Carbon Era Is Coming." The reason for this admiration was the discovery of a burst of gamma radiation, which cannot be explained otherwise than as a thermonuclear reaction. According to researchers, Rossi has exactly what he is talking about.
A viable open cold fusion recipe can trigger an energy gold rush. Alternative methods can be found that will circumvent Rossi’s patents and leave him aside from the multi-billion dollar energy business.
So, perhaps, Rossi would prefer to avoid this confirmation.