Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have just repeated their December nuclear fusion experiment with even greater success, bringing the world closer (but still a long way off) to cheap energy nirvana.
After managing to produce energy through nuclear fusion for the first time in December, the researchers have now repeated the feat on July 30, the laboratory told the Financial Times.
The success of the experiments suggests that at some point the world will be able to produce energy cleanly, infinitely and at negligible cost, using a process similar to what happens inside the Sun and other stars.
“Since the first demonstration of fusion ignition in December, we have continued to run experiments to study this exciting scientific novelty. In an experiment conducted on the 30th of July, we repeated the ignition,” the institute said in the note to the FT. “We plan to report these results at scientific conferences and publications.”
In the test, ignition was achieved by heating two isotopes of hydrogen to extreme temperatures, until their nuclei merged forming a denser atom – helium – and releasing a quantity of energy in the form of neutrons.
There was again a ‘net energy gain,’ that is, the resulting energy was greater than that used in heating the atoms. Initial data from the most recent experiment showed an output greater than 3.5 megajoules, versus 2.5 megajoules from the previous ignition. That’s enough to run an iron for an hour.
International experts reacted with optimism to the progress in research, but say it could still be decades before nuclear fusion is used commercially.
The startup Helion Energy, meanwhile, is already starting to sign its first contracts for the supply of energy generated from nuclear fusion, getting a contract with Microsoft in May.
The technology used by the company is different from that used in experiments such as Lawrence Livermore.
The startup has developed a ‘plasma accelerator’ that heats deuterium – an isotope of hydrogen – and helium 3 – an isotope of helium – to a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius until the atoms turn into plasma. Then a magnetic field compresses the plasma until fusion ignites.
Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, is one of Helion’s supporters and enthusiasts. Initial delivery to Microsoft is scheduled for 2028.
According to the company, the reactor will have an initial power of at least 50 megawatts, enough to supply a city of 50,000 people.
Giuliano Guandalini
2023-08-07 01:14:41
#closer #nuclear #meltdown
