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(Orhan Turan via Getty Images/Canva)
Those of us who have manually stirred large amounts of coal into fires have imagined that one day we could generate exponentially more electricity with just a fraction of the fuel we put into the furnace. Do you think so? The day has come.
The world of nuclear fusion has been a cauldron of excitement this week. Following the American breakthrough in inertial fusion (an experiment in which a fusion reaction releases more energy than it consumes), British scientists have set out to achieve record-breaking results with their own fusion experiments. Announced energy output.
In an incredible five-second test, the Joint European Taurus (JET) squeezed 69.26 megajoules of energy from just 0.21 milligrams of fuel. This is equivalent to the energy obtained from 2 kilograms of coal. JET accomplished this impressive feat through nuclear fusion, the very process that uses the sun as fuel. The fuel used is a mixture of two types of deuterium: deuterium and tritium.
Although this achievement is a world record, JET is not aiming to be the last power plant. This paves the way for larger prototypes expected to be released next year that are expected to generate 10 to 25 times more energy than they consume.
But going back to JET’s success, it was validation of the tokamak design, a donut-shaped chamber in which powerful magnets hold the superheated plasma that fuels fusion reactions. Generating and controlling this plasma at temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius is no mean feat. JET addressed his two important challenges:
Control heat: The powerful energy released by the plasma can damage the walls of the chamber. JET has demonstrated technology that will “mitigate” this heat and protect future fusion machines.
Stay Stable: Energy explosions can also wreak havoc. JET demonstrated how to control the plasma edge to prevent these bursts and ensure smooth operation.
These are not just theoretical solutions. JET tested them in a real-world environment using the same fuel mixture (deuterium and tritium) that will be used in future power plants. This adds important reliability to the overall fusion effort.
Although commercial fusion power plants are still decades away, these advances are like stepping stones across a river, each bringing us closer to the other side. The UK’s achievements, combined with recent US successes, show there are multiple paths to this clean energy future.
Through continued experimentation and collaboration, scientists hope to refine these technologies so we can move toward a cleaner world with star power here on Earth.
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