by -
Japan’s experimental nuclear fusion reactor is up and running.
-
JT-60SA is the most powerful experimental fusion reactor currently in operation.
-
It is a different device than the NIF, which had a fusion breakthrough last year.
Nuclear fusion has the potential to revolutionize the world by creating abundant, emission-free energy.
Fusion is considered possible production nearly 4 million times as much energy as fossil fuels such as coal or oil.
We just have to figure out how to harness all that power.
It is easier said than done. Scientists have been trying to figure it out for years.
Now, they have a new weapon to use in their fight: JT-60SA, the most powerful nuclear reactor ever built.
Japan’s $600 million nuclear reactor
Japan’s new 50-foot-tall, 40-foot-wide reactor is a type of donut-shaped device called a tokamak.
Inside the tokamak, gas heats up to hundreds of millions of degrees Fahrenheit, forming a plasma where hydrogen atoms can bond together and fusion can occur.
JT-60SA can hold about 30% to 40% more plasma than the United Kingdom’s European Joint Thorus, which used to be the largest operational tokamak.
Located in Naka, Japan, JT-60SA is a collaboration between Japan and the European Union, and officially began operations on December 1st.
The IS $600 million A tokamak is an experimental device, meaning it is not designed to provide commercial electricity.
Instead, the science experts learn from it – like how plasma behaves – will help inform research for an even larger tokamak known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).
ITER will be twice the size of JT-60SA and generate five times the volume of plasma. It was originally scheduled to fire its first plasma in 2025 but has since been delayed.
Achieving net energy
“JT-60SA is officially the most powerful tokamak in the world until ITER is operational,” Aris Apollonatos, a communications specialist at Fusion for Energy, the organization that manages the EU portion of ITER, told Business Insider via email .
The reason ITER is so important is that it is designed to achieve clean energy. In other words, once ITER is operating, the plasma it generates is designed to eventually produce 10 times more energy than the energy required to form the plasma in the first place.
Such progress could pave the way for a new era of fusion energy that would revolutionize the energy sector.
Why is JT-60SA important?
“JT-60SA provides a great opportunity for the fusion community as it will allow scientists to learn, train, and analyze additional plasma parameters,” said Apollonatos.
Over the next two years, researchers will make further improvements to JT-60SA, including increasing the heating power to generate fusion reactions and adding new devices to measure the performance of the plasma.
Japan is also working on DEMO, a power plant that would demonstrate the ability to harness electricity from fusion. They hope to have it operational by 2050, and the JT-60SA experiments could be useful for that facility as well.
Once the updates on JT-60SA are complete, scientists there will develop plasmas similar to those expected in ITER and DEMO so we can conduct experiments to help prepare them,” said Apollonatos.
“Are there gotchas? Can you keep [the plasma] stable for that long?” Vincent Tang, principal deputy director for the National Ignition Facility & Photon Science Directorate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, told Business Insider.
Tang is part of a team that achieved one of the most important breakthroughs in nuclear fusion in decades.
How NIF is revolutionizing nuclear fusion
In December 2022, for the first time in history, NIF researchers generated more energy from a fusion reaction than was used to power the reaction.
It was a breakthrough that was surpassed by scientists at NIF the following year. But unlike JT-60SA, which uses a tokamak to produce fusion, NIF uses a laser to push a fuel capsule, a process known as inertial confinement fusion.
Tang said that NIF is the only facility that can conduct a study burning plasma until ITER comes online.
“We’re in a completely plasma-ignition regime, where that fusion reaction is pushing itself completely, heating more fuel,” Tang said.
“NIF was never designed to be energy efficient,” Tang said. And its main purpose is weapons research. However, his progress stimulated more interest in inertial confinement fusion as an energy source.
The US Department of Energy, for example, recently announced that they are investing $42 million in NIF-style fusion for energy purposes.
Tokamaks and inertial confinement devices have previously faced scientific and engineering challenges fusion power plants become a reality.
“I think it’s very important to have multiple paths towards fusion energy,” Tang said. “The need is so great, it’s not going to be just one solution.”
Read the original article on Business Insider
