Still, the potential nuclear fusion power seems to guarantee has drawn numerous personnel and corporations to find ways to manipulate its commercial prospects. Can fusion energy live up to its promises?

The Potential of Fusion Energy

It is an undeniable fact that nuclear fusion is a notably promising source for future commercial energy. Since the 1950s, scientists have been trying to sustain fusion reactions to produce energy. The development of fusion power has come a long way and has been greatly improved, but the majority of scientists believe that commercial fusion energy is still a few decades away.

In an attempt to speed up the estimated time to complete this research, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) was launched. ITER is a project functioning under a joint partnership between the European Union, Japan, China, India, Korea, Russia and the U.S. to research and develop the scientific and technical potential of fusion energy. It aims to prove that large-scale fusion reactions are possible, and that it can be sustained with the concept of “tokamak”. Other than ITER, various reactor designs exist to fuel similar scientific experiments such as NIF and the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment.

If fusion energy is successfully produced on a commercial scale, the promises it upholds look rather unbelievable. Tritium is used in nuclear fusion. Regardless of its rarity in nature, it can be mass-produced in nuclear reactors by enclosing the plasma in a breeder blanket of lithium or other chemical elements to trigger neutron reactions. Upon its creation, tritium will be extracted and reprocessed as nuclear fusion fuel. Actually, the production of tritium exceeds the utilization, hence providing sufficient energy source for the reactor. Helium, an inactive and nontoxic chemical, is the waste product of nuclear fusion.

Theoretically, fusion energy does not post radiation threat, as the plasma will immediately vanish if the reaction process has gone awry, thus preventing nuclear leaks. Fusion energy seems to be the perfect energy source – uncontaminated, recyclable, self-sustaining and somewhat, rather safe. Yet, a great deal of hard work has been dedicated to its slightest development.

The Challenges

Disappointing results emerge in attempts to produce, sustain and manage the plasma due to the remarkably high temperature that most conventional substances find difficult to endure. This is just one of the various technical and scientific snags scientists need to solve. Seeing the complexities of generating fusion energy, the research process of this technology is relatively unending for the past decades. However, the few significant discoveries that fusion energy research has managed to dig up must not be swept under the rug.

Scientists worldwide are now on the race to unravel the problems stopping the advancement of fusion energy, resulting in opposing proposals and concepts regarding the reactor’s design to emerge from different countries of which each believes theirs to be the best. Nevertheless, all claims are expected to be put through several trials and tests before experts from the fusion energy research field can come to a common agreement. Another note to add, most reactors’ blueprints are most likely not finalized. Important edits will be made every now and then to enhance the constructions’ gears and substances.

Needless to say, it may take a few other decades for the main construction principles to be written black and white in a “book of fusion energy reactor design standards”.

Non-technical factors, for instance, financial support, politics, public awareness, economic status, other means of power generation, etc. play a vital part in the advancement of fusion power too. Large funding and industrial dedication to push the advancement of fusion energy could be possible as existing fossil fuel extraction is costly and not environmental friendly. On the contrary, other forms of energy revolution or an improvement in energy competence and maintenance that leads to a reduction in energy use could turn previous research efforts to waste.

Moreover, political dispute between countries involved in joint projects like ITER could put all past achievements in ruins. Comparing the financial support other fields receive, the endowment for fusion energy is rather low – the U.S. government spends roughly $250 million each year in this field. Although the long-term funding of ITER is quite eminent, other research sites are facing financial difficulties, and this may jeopardize the evolution of fusion energy.

The year 2040 is declared as the earliest possible timeframe for fusion energy to be commercialized for consumers. High-income corporations stand a comparatively better chance in this market as they are able to fund the research and development of a technology that needs years to gain major profits.

 
The Fusion Market

With its significantly slow research process that is estimated to finish in no less than 30 years and with hardly any profitable gains in between, some may wonder, could the fusion market even prosper?

Two potential marketing approaches can be pondered upon to enhance the opportunities hidden in the fusion industry. The investing companies could either wait to gain profits when fusion energy is successfully commercialized, or turn the field of fusion research into money-making opportunities.

Clearly, the long-term strategy is more advisable for patient companies with a steady income flow. A private company named General Fusion, for instance, is endowed with a venture capital of $22 million to fund its research on a fusion reactor’s design. Although its main business requires a relatively long period to bloom and is rather volatile, General Fusion was dubbed by Venture Capital Journal as one of the “20 Most Promising Startups” in 2010.

The latter strategy steers commercial opportunities to the fusion research industry. As stated earlier, the development of fusion energy opens the door to vast possibilities. Theories irrespective of their nature are being studied – from the reactors’ design, to machineries like the heat exchanger and breeder blanket, to the enhancement of elements to endure the extraordinary high temperatures in reactors. Billions are spent by governments worldwide on fusion research, providing smaller and less ambitious companies with a chance for immediate revenue.

The research market is most likely not exposed to equal intensity as comparatively more recognized markets. Assuming you have discovered a plasma-facing component believed to be perfect for nuclear fusion reactors; experiments and trials will still be conducted extensively on other potential components to determine the final option even though you claim yours is better. After the most supreme component is identified and perhaps extensively used, its yearly funding might not stay the same as trials and tests are conducted frequently on new materials. The fusion research market is rather complicated, particularly for the equipments created solely for this field as it is impossible to utilize them for other purposes and markets, thus reducing potential leverage.

Computer modeling and simulation are seen as another commercial opportunity offered by fusion research market. Only a few large-scale experiments have been carried out so far as plasma research is costly, extremely complicated and relatively hazardous. Proposals to perform such experiments are mostly rejected. Hence, fewer financially stable companies can resolve to computer modeling and simulation as a cheaper alternative to develop theories at an early stage by collecting simulation data to evaluate the advantages of the new ideas.

Marketing opportunities not only lie in high-end developments of commercial fusion energy, but in the less significant research field as well. The most satisfying return, however, may not come in the form of actual revenues, but in abstract fulfillment for being a part in unveiling the mystery of fusion energy and developing it to its full potential.

Source: Environmental Leader

© Jimmy Eriksson for Renewable Power News, 2011. | Permalink | No comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Alternative Power Sources, Global Energy, Renewable Power.

The MIT’s experimental Alcator C-Mod reactor (world’s best University-based Fusion machine) has progressed in promoting the use of fusion-power reactor.

The tests have found some operating parameters for the reactor. These parameters are known as ‘mode’ of operation. The findings might help to solve a long-brain-teasing concern association to the operation of fusion power; the trouble of how to sustain extreme heat in hot charged gas known as plasma within the reactor. During the process contaminating particles might interrupt the fusion reaction. Some of the particles will even escape and leak out from the chamber of operation.

MIT’s Plasma Science and fusion Center has a fusion reactor known as tokamaks. It makes use of strong magnetic fields to sustain the hot plasma within the toroidal chamber. However, based on the shape and strength of the magnetic field the particles may squeeze out of the plasma. There are two types of confinement of the heat one which is more loosed called the L-mode (Low-confinement) and the tighter one known as H-mode (high-confinement).

The Alcator series of reactors have been tested for over 30 years. Currently, MIT researchers have identified a new mode of operation which they have entitled as I-mode (I stand for Improved). The heat remains strongly confined in this mode while particles (including contaminants) can be excreted.

There are strong benefits of this I-mode. The fact that contaminations can leak out prevents them from actually damaging the fusion reaction itself. Dennis Whyte, who has co-authored of above 100 tests on this new i-mode and a professor in the MIT Department of Nuclear Science, says that the results are ‘exciting’. In October, 2010, he gave insight about the I-mode at the International Atomic Energy Agency International Fusion Conference in South Korea.

Co-author of the report and the lead scientists at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Amanda Hubbard says that the confinement of heat and elimination of contaminants will drastically advance the field of fusion energy. In November 2010, Hubbard presented the latest finding at the American Physical Society’s Division of Plasma Physics. It was also highlighted that investors are interested in this new mode. Currently, the research is being financed by U.S. Department of Energy.

The tokamaks contain hydrogen isotypes tritium and deuterium. This is heated up to a temperature above 100 million degrees Celsius. However, the Alcator C-Mode reactor does operate on a lower temperature. The heated plasma is kept in a magnetic ‘bottle’ which has the shape of a doughnut. The shape assures that the particles do not melt or touch the walls of the chamber. Regardless of the shape, the walls are relatively close, which does commonly cause leakages of the hot plasma. This causes the particles in the walls to mix with the hot plasma generating contaminants. The contaminants that are expected to be produced from the fusion reaction are helium atoms, which fuse together with hydrogen atoms.

Whyte says that there have been a number of theoretical suggestions provided to remove impurities that accumulate when theHowever, i-mode fusion is a completely innovative method which prevents the accumulations of impurities, even before they clog together.

In order to establish this I-mode the magnetic field present inside the tokamak has to be re-configured. The design is practically upside-down of the typical H-mode

Fusion reactor .

This is a significant step toward fusion energy. I-mode will help to generate self-heating energy without the need of importing external power. This innovative progress is expected to be integrated into the international collaboration of the reactor known as ITER. The ITER project is being construed in France.

Moreover, Patrick Diamond PhD, who is a professor of plasma physics at the University of California at San Diego claims that the discovery of the i-mode represents a significant step in the development of modern fusion reactors. The new model avoids the risk of bursts of heats. I-mode helps to provide a concentrated temperature gradient but does not support a steep density of this gradient. Besides, this is needed to avoid the production of unwanted contaminants.

Moreover, the mode raises several questions according to Diamond, like why is the behaviour of particle transport and heat influenced in diverse ways? This is a basic question but extremely challenging for theorists and scientists to answer.

I-mode has attracted international interest. According to Rich Hawryluk, who is a research at the Princeton Plasma Physic Laboratory says that other researchers will now also start to examine this new mode of operation.

According to Hubbard, this remarkable finding was discovered through the MIT’s Alcator C-mod thanks to its prefect size. It is neither too smaller nor too large. The discovery produced at MIT’s laboratory will be highly applicable to larger reactors, which will be built such as the ITER.

For larger reactors all tests are done two years in advanced while for smaller reactors the tests can be done as fast as they appear. This is how MIT researchers were able to introduce this new I-mode of operation.

Source: MIT

© Jimmy Eriksson for Renewable Power News, 2010. | Permalink | No comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Alternative Power Sources, Global Energy, Renewable Power.

However, scientists, engineers and governments are still trying to control and harness the energy of atoms. If ever it would be feasible to control fission energy it would be a revolutionary concept for world’s energy markets. It is even possible that one day nuclear energy could supersede fossil fuels. The first time ever that nuclear fission was used to produce electricity was in 1951 at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory.

History of Nuclear Energy For America

The history of nuclear energy started with two dreadful atomic blasts in the final phase of the World-War II in 1945. However, it did not take long until nuclear energy turned into sources of energy. The first time nuclear energy was used to produce energy was in 1951. Only 3 years after in 1954, an Atomic Energy Act was passed to promulgate nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. This act was further enforced in 1957 by the establishment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an institution developed to assure that nuclear energy was used for peaceful purposes. They were responsible for inspecting various systems and to ensure that nuclear materials are only used for peaceful purposes and not for military use. This institute was subsequently substituted by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Research and Development Administration. The Commission has since 1977 been known as the US Department of Energy.

In the late 1960s commercial nuclear power plants became a reality. There were a large number of commercial orders geared to establish nuclear power reactors in the United States at that time. However, fear appealed once again upon nuclear power in 1979. The Three Mile Island Facility in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania experienced a meltdown in one reactor. Attention was highlighted on the potential danger of radioactive materials that might kill or damage living tissues. It was forecasted that nuclear energy might have other more severe dangers lurking in the pipeline.

April 1986 confirmed this extremely severe danger of nuclear energy. Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the former Soviet Union experienced a complete meltdown of its reactor. The outcome of the detonation of radioactive materials was massive environmental damage. The aftermath of Chernobyl, led to a drastic fall in public support for nuclear energy.

Aftermath of Chernobyl in 1986

Nevertheless, during the recent 15 years, technological development has rendered nuclear reactors much safer. This has given nuclear energy a greater support in contributing to world’s energy supply. Nuclear energy has some benefits in comparison to fossil fuel, like the absence of greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide). However, the public resistance for nuclear energy is currently high.

More Information about Nuclear Energy

In order to create a nuclear fission some radioactive elements that are manmade or found naturally in our environment are required. The most widely used element for splitting atoms is Uranium. There are two main types of Uranium used (isotopes) U-235 and U-238. U-235 is the category of Uranium used for nuclear fission. It is used because it can easily split atoms and produce tremendous energy. The other type U-238 is barely radioactive. However, the world’s reserve of energy is mostly constituted of U-238, and less than a percent of the Uranium is U-235.

Other Sources of Nuclear Energy

The only alternatives for Uranium are Thorium and Plutonium. Plutonium utilized in nuclear reactors is manmade and derived from the nuclear reactor itself. Plutonium is not as safe as U-235 and much more complicated to use. The other alternative is Thorium. It has not yet turned into a widely used component for nuclear energy supply. However, it is being intensely scrutinized and is considered as a cleaner and safer option to Uranium. The most widely substance used in nuclear energy is still Uranium.

Other Challenges of Nuclear Energy

The hardest challenge of nuclear energy is to avoid environmental damage. Nuclear disasters like 1986 Chernobyl led to the disposal of extremely radioactive waste. The radioactive waste will take approximately 10,000 years until it is fully broken down into safe elements. It is a great challenge to store these waste materials for such a long time. The issue of storing radioactive waste is possible but where and how are questions that remain unresolved.

Another major short-term trouble is the depletion of Uranium. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says that exploitable Uranium reserves will only last for roughly 60 years. A high demand for Uranium would render it expensive and therefore, unattractive as a global source of energy.

Governments are emphasizing more on nuclear energy today as the mushrooming global energy demand is peaking year- on- year. The potential power of Uranium might anticipate energy demand for some years. According to Energy Information Agency, in the league of Nuclear energy, United States top the list as the largest exploiter of Uranium followed by France, Japan, Germany and Russia. United States has 103 nuclear power plants. These plants produce approximately 20 tons of radioactive spent fuel per annum. The waste (spent fuel) is stored in cooling pools or rather temporary storages until alternatives are figured-out. No one knows yet what do to with the radioactive waste derived from nuclear energy plants.

Nuclear Fusion; More Promising Energy

There is another dimension of nuclear energy. It uses the same process as our sun or another star that gives life in a galaxy. It is called nuclear fusion. Fusion occurs when two lighter elements are fused together to produce a heavier element. This could be hydrogen fused to produce helium. The fusion process is only feasible under gigantic pressure and heat. It does also generate an unimaginable quantity of energy from light, heat and other radiations.

All stars in the universe are powered through nuclear fusion of hydrogen. The core of the sun transforms hydrogen into helium at an extraordinary heat of roughly 10 to 15 million degree Celsius. The fusion process emits enough energy to maintain life on earth. One type of energy released through the sun’s fusion is sunlight. However, sun’s nuclear fusion is also responsible for all other chemical elements present on earth.

Only 7 years after the Atomic explosion in Japan, in 1952 a hydrogen bomb was developed and tested by the United States. Fusing process of hydrogen atoms was slightly imitated. This hydrogen bomb could generate thousands of times the energy that conventional nuclear fission would produce. A single hydrogen bomb released would generate energy tantamount to 5 times the energy released by all the bombs used during the Second World War. It is auspicious that hydrogen bombs have not yet been used in warfare.

It is extremely difficult to produce a perfect simulation of the fusion process in the sun. The positive aspect about fusion energy over fission energy is that there are no dangerous radiation side effects. However, the main constraint is to initiate a fusion reaction in a small area, which can reach 180,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. We do not yet have any substance that can support such a heat. All substances will either vaporize or meltdown at a few thousand degrees celsius.

Interesting Facts about Nuclear Energy
1. One Kilogram of Uranium fuel can provide an equal amount of energy as 100 metric tons of coal.

3. If fusion energy would be used to provide world’s energy supply the source materials would be enough to sustain energy for millions of years.

Source: Ecology

Related Articles:

1. Time for Fusion Energy

2. Laser Fusion; Innovative STAR Technology Coming to Earth

3. The Sandia National Laboratories Finds Out A New Way to Commercial Nuclear Fusion Power

© Jimmy Eriksson for Renewable Power News, 2010. | Permalink | One comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Alternative Power Sources, Global Energy, Renewable Power.

The lasers are intended to burst up heat to unprecedented levels. This tremendous heat is fundamental for nuclear fusion to be made possible.

Laser fusion experiments have been conducted in the past. Unfortunately, all of them have failed due to the ineffective method used to feeding-in the energy. Brian MacGowan of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, is already working on another attempt to make fusion energy possible. He has created extremely sophisticated transmitters of laser. This enables a better amplification of the laser making it even more powerful. Fusion energy is slowly paving its way into the future.

The eventual project of laser fusion was started in 2009, at Livermore’s 192-laser beam National Ignition Facility (NIF).

The team is using two isotopes made from hydrogen; Tritium and Deuterium. These components are not key chemicals for the fusion to take place. The symmetrical implosion according to NIF will ignite the fusion from laser pulses of an approximately of 1.2 and up to 1.3 mega-joules. Where the full capacity of the machine is as high as 1.8 mega -joules.

NIF manager, Jeff Wisoff says that progress is in the right direction. In the recent year, focus has been on increasing the energy capacity of the laser. Now a second phase has been reached whereby a 10 centimeter-thick aluminum target chamber is being built with immense concrete doors where neutrons are expected to be created, and produce energy from the laser fusion experiment.

The beam compression will be tested in the coming month. If all tests turns-out smoothly the fusion ignition could well be experimented at the end of 2010.

Understanding How Laser Fusion Works

Source: New Scientist
National Ignition Facility

© Jimmy Eriksson for Renewable Power News, 2010. | Permalink | One comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Alternative Power Sources, Global Energy, Renewable Power.

Many researchers considered that cold fusion could be the lucky coin. Yet producing energy from cold fusion has not been met with success. Paving the way to succeed in hot fusion required billions of investment and years of scientific research before it surfaced as a contemporary source of energy.

The hot fusion is interesting but tremendously difficult. To enable atoms of a particular type of hydrogen to fuse it must be heated to 100 million degrees Celsius. At that heat, the hydrogen created electrical charged particles that are known as plasma. Plasma is a very common state of matter in the cosmos yet it is unprecedentedly difficult to manipulate. The generation of plasma is so complex that experiment conducted has never totally recovered the energy required to produce the reaction.

There are many projects across Japan, U.S and Europe that are trying to perfection the manipulation of plasma and thereby accelerate its energy output. The solution is believed to be in the six-dollar reactor known constructed in the “ITER” project. However, ITER project is still very much in a state of work-in-progress, and commercialization of the technology is not expected within a decade.

Sight of Plasma
Jerome Pamela, project manager of a fusion machine called the Joint European Torus, or JET, at Britain’s Culham Science Center is certain that they will be able to ignite the plasma. The constraint that remains problematic is to convey the transition of plasma into usable energy. A possible solution is to use a particular magnetic field to control plasma once it is heated up to around 10 million degrees Celsius. It is a temperature sufficient to produce plasma but not to initiate a fusion.

An experiment to see the plasma can last for 0.25 seconds. It is quite disappointing to see it live. It is like a ghost in a library but with an enormous amount of energy. It has energy similar to solar, biomass, fission and wind.

Politics and Energy
The ITER project has the developed-world supporting with finance and expertise. The machinery is actually being built in France. Scientists considered fusion energy as rigorously viable theory. The only hurdle that is trickier to control than plasma is politics.

Many politicians say that new energy technologies should emerge based on market forces. However, experts think the contrary. The fact that new technology is expensive and private investment will probably evade uncertain investment project makes the government a more prominent player to support technologic developments.

Innovative technology in the American Economy emerged through government support. According to Martin Hofferts, satellite communication and computers were supported by government intervention. Internet was similarly encouraged by the military and National Science Foundation for some decades before the private forces took-over.

Proactive energy policies are un-regulated up to date. There is an increased use of solar, wind and other renewable sources yet fossil fuels remain the dominant one. The peril effect on climate change might until now be underestimated. Taking actions to harness renewable energy such as wind can result to be both economical and indispensable for the environment.

The ITER project will finish its construction by 2018. It will have a potential capacity to create a heat of 200 million degrees Celsius, which is as much as 10 times the temperature at the core of the sun. Energy from fusion is practically unlimited as it is comparable to stars and suns in the cosmos. The emergence of fusion energy is definitely going to revolutionize the concept of generating clean, renewable and alternative energy.

Source: National Geographic

© Jimmy Eriksson for Renewable Power News, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Alternative Power Sources, Global Energy, Renewable Power.