http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-40558758?SThisFB
It seems that using fusion energy will be promising looking “around the corner” technology for quite many years according to a new version of a European “road map”. The road map drawn up by scientists and engineers at EUROfusion lays out the technological hurdles to be overcome.
We will have to wait until the second half of the century for fusion reactors to start generating electricity, experts have announced.
The setback has been caused largely by delays to ITER.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s Confirmed! Laser Fusion Experiment Hit a Critical Milestone in Power Generation
https://www.sciencealert.com/its-confirmed-laser-fusion-experiment-hit-a-critical-milestone-in-power-generation
In December 2022, scientists at the US National Ignition Facility announced a historic milestone: for the first time, their laser-powered fusion reaction had ‘broken even’, producing more energy than it consumed.
But advances as big as this need to be rigorously checked – and that can take some time.
“This achievement is the culmination of more than five decades of research and gives proof that laboratory fusion, based on fundamental physics principles, is possible,” the team members of the Indirect Drive ICF (inertial confinement fusion) Collaboration write in the first of five papers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
South Korean ‘artificial sun’ reaches 7 times the Sun’s core temperature
The KSTAR fusion reactor has set a new H-mode record by sustaining 100 million degrees for over 100 seconds.
https://interestingengineering.com/energy/south-korea-artificial-sun-new-record?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=article_image
For the first time, the Korea Institute of Fusion Energy’s (KFE) Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) fusion reactor has reached temperatures seven times that of the Sun’s core.
Achieved during testing between December 2023 and February 2024, this sets a new record for the fusion reactor project.
Furthermore, it maintained the high confinement mode (H-mode) for over 100 seconds. H-mode is a stable plasma state that is better confined than low confinement mode.
KSTAR: 7 times hotter than Sun
Fusion is a process that mimics the same process that generates light and heat from stars. It involves fusing hydrogen and other light elements to release tremendous power that experts in the field hope to harness for unlimited, zero-carbon electricity. This is often called the ‘Holy Grail’ of the energy transition.
According to Korea’s National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST), creating technology that can maintain high-temperature and high-density plasmas where the fusion reactions occur most effectively for extended periods is crucial
According to NST, the secret behind these major achievements is tungsten divertors. These are vital components located at the bottom of the vacuum vessel in a magnetic fusion device.
They play a crucial role in expulsing waste gases and impurities from the reactor while enduring substantial surface heat loads. The KSTAR team recently switched to using tungsten instead of carbon in its diverters.
Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals
The success of tungsten diverters can provide invaluable data for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project. ITER is a $21.5bn international fusion megaproject being developed in France by dozens of countries, including Korea, China, the US, the EU, and Russia.