Clean Energy - Nuclear fusion power generation

Different from nuclear power, thoughts on commercially available within 15 years.

About Nuclear fusion: It is like making the solar power generation extremely efficient. Instead of collecting the energy from the sun, it is an idea to make a miniature sun on the earth, and use it for the power station. It is efficient, also said to be cleaner than conventional power generation methods. However, nuclear fusion power generation has not been put to practical use yet, unlike nuclear power plants that currently use nuclear fission reactions.

But now MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) aims to realize nuclear fusion power generation that can be used for commercial use. Italian energy company Eni invested 50 million dollars in CFS, and development starts based on that. CFS also said that it would be possible for more flexibility and speedy movement by soliciting wider investment from the private sector.

Fusion is a process in which two hydrogen atoms merge into helium, which frees up a lot of energy. Many researchers have been pursuing the realization of nuclear fusion power generation since around the 1950s, but it is not so easy to make machines that produce more energy than the energy needed to operate them.

MIT's nuclear fusion reactor SPARC can be built at much lower cost than they thought. Powerful magnets are used in nuclear fusion reactors. In SPARC iron, which is the material of magnets, is coated with a substance called yttrium-based superconductor. Which reduces electric resistance and increases efficiency. In nuclear fusion reactors, as with gravity in the sun, some force is necessary to confine fusion reactions, but this electromagnet plays its role in SPARC.

The nuclear fusion reaction is completely different from nuclear fission reaction which is the energy source of conventional nuclear power generation. Nuclear fusion does not cause an explosive chain reaction without nuclear fission material, and the substance used is not uranium or the like, but water and lithium are taken in to discharge helium. Also, in nuclear fusion reactors, the risk of nuclear weapons is low.

The people who challenge the nuclear fusion power generation using high-temperature superconductors are many other points out that. Princeton University also has its own fusion experimental facility. The company called Tokamak Energy in the United Kingdom is aiming for nuclear fusion power generation with similar equipment.

It seems that lot of money needed to realize nuclear fusion power generation.

---