French reactor sets new nuclear fusion record

French reactor sets new nuclear fusion record


The WEST nuclear fusion reactor managed to maintain plasma at 50 million degrees Celsius for 6 minutes, a new world record

The WEST nuclear fusion reactor in France has set a new record by maintaining a temperature of 50 million degrees Celsius for 6 consecutive minutes. It is the first time that a device of this type has managed to sustain fusion for so long.



In addition to the record time, WEST generated 15% more fusion energy than previous attempts, according to scientists at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in New Jersey, who collaborated on the project.

Another important result is that this time the plasma became twice as dense, favoring the nuclear fusion chain reaction of hydrogen atoms, more specifically of tritium, an isotope of hydrogen.

To achieve this performance, scientists used tungsten as the reactor wall material, increasing its ability to resist heat compared to older carbon walls.




In the image, however, the plasma is inside the doughnut-shaped reactor (Image: Reproduction/French Alternative Energy and Atomic Energy Commission)

However, tungsten can melt and contaminate plasma, so the WEST team (and other reactors around the world) are studying how tungsten behaves and interacts with plasma. PPPL contributed to this research by providing a new temperature diagnostic tool.

The instrument reveals how tungsten particles migrate from the reactor wall into the plasma. “We can find out how [o tungstênio] it moves inside, we can follow it, we can study its transport inside the car,” said Delgadot-Aparicio, head of advanced projects at PPPL.

Tungsten is also used by other reactors, such as KSTAR, the Korean device that broke his own record maintaining an incredible temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius for 48 seconds.

Therefore, the results of the study using PPPL’s ​​new diagnostic tool should benefit not only WEST scientists, but all other fusion experiments.

The path to nuclear fusion energy

Despite the success of WEST’s latest round, there is still a long way to go before nuclear fusion reactors can provide power for commercial use. To do this, you need to run the “Artificial Sun” under the same conditions for hours, rather than just a few minutes.

Among the major obstacles is the difficulty of producing more energy than is consumed to support the process. The fusion of tritium atomic nuclei requires an immense amount of energy, achieved using the most powerful lasers in the world.

An article describing the research and results will soon be published in a scientific journal.

Source: BusinessInsider

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