source: www.iter.org/sci/PlasmaHeating We’ve all seen the Starkiller Base in Star Wars: The Force Awakens along with the Death Star i...
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| source: www.iter.org/sci/PlasmaHeating |
We’ve all seen the Starkiller Base in Star Wars: The Force
Awakens along with the Death Star in A New Hope. What these weapons do is that they
apparently suck the energy of the stars and transform themselves into deadly
weapons. Bloody Amazing! But is it possible to actually do that?
Turns out that we can’t actually suck the energy from stars
and create weapons of mass destruction. Another question arises is whether or
not we can use a star directly as a plant to create energy (since it has enough
energy to destroy a Hosnian system consisting of 5 planets). Well turns out we
can’t do that either (yet) but studying our own star the Sun we have come to
know of its immense energy.
The Sun like any other star operates itself through a
nuclear fusion reaction. In a fusion reaction, smaller atomic nuclei are fused
together into larger nuclei and in turn releasing tremendous amounts of clean
energy. The pros of fusion nuclear reactors as compared to nuclear fission
reactors is that nuclear fusion produces less radioactivity, in a lot safer and
requires ample fuel supplies.
Last week The UK’s newest fusion reactor, the ST40 was
switched on. In a surprisingly small period of time the ST40 was able to
achieve ‘first plasma’ within its core.
The ST40 is a tokamak reactor which uses extremely powerful
magnetic fields to confine plasma in the shape of a torus.
The aim for ST40 is to heat the plasma up to 100 million
degrees Celsius by 2018 (seven times hotter than the center of the sun) thus
achieving the fusion threshold at which the hydrogen atoms will begin to fuse
to form helium and in the process releasing substantial amount of clean energy.
David Kingham, the CEO of Tokamak Energy said, "Today
is an important day for fusion energy development in the UK, and the world".
"We are unveiling the first world-class controlled fusion
device to have been designed, built and operated by a private venture. The ST40
is a machine that will show fusion temperatures - 100 million degrees - are
possible in compact, cost-effective reactors. This will allow fusion power to
be achieved in years, not decades."
Although using nuclear fusion as an energy source is quite
efficient and powerful achieving nuclear fusion reactions is not a piece of
cake.
Developments are still taking place around the globe in an effort
to employ fusion as an energy source. In Germany, a new type of reactor namely
Wendelstein 7-X stellerator has been able to successfully control plasma. Also,
scientists at MIT in October were able to break the record for plasma pressure.
South Korean researchers were the first ones to sustain high performance plasma
of up to 300 million degrees Celsius for 70 seconds.
By 2018 the team behind ST40 hopes to attain a fusion threshold of
100 million degrees Celsius and eventually providing clean fusion power to the
UK grid by 2030.
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