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Nuclear fusion is the same process that powers the sun, and is
widely considered as the holy grail of clean energy.
Using the Joint European Torus (JET), a huge, donut-shaped
machine known as a tokamak, scientists in Great Britain were
able to sustain a record amount of fusion energy for five
seconds, enough to power around 12,000 homes.
The tokamak is lined with powerful magnets that hold the fuel
in. The heat is then harnessed and used to produce electricity.
“This is a step in the direction of getting this amount of power
continuously,” said Lorenzo Vergari, assistant professor of
Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering at the U of I
Grainger College of Engineering. “We’re not quite there yet, but
it’s impressive to me that such a large amount of power was
generated.”
Experts have worked for decades to master the highly complex
process of fusion, and if they achieve their goal, fusion could
generate enormous amounts of energy with a very small amount of
fuel.
Illinois recently lifted a moratorium on the construction of new
nuclear reactors, paving the way for the use of small modular
reactors, or SMRs. That technology appears to be years away but
there may have been a breakthrough.
A UK company using Electron-Beam Welding was able to weld a
full-size nuclear reactor vessel in under 24 hours instead of
the usual 12 months.
Vergari said there are numerous small companies trying to
develop clean energy technology.
“That will increase the competition of the technology but at the
same time I think fostering the speed at which we get a
functional fusion reactor,” said Vergari.
JET was decommissioned last December, but the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, a massive tokamak in France,
is scheduled to start up in 2025.
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