Scientists in the UK have set a new record for generating energy from nuclear fusion, the same process that powers the sun.
It is seen as a potential future source of near limitless power. Scientists hope that nuclear fusion technology has commercial application.
The Joint European Torus (JET), an experimental fusion machine near Abingdon in Oxfordshire, generated around 59 megajoules, or 11 Megawatts of energy – enough to power around 10,000 homes – in a five second burst.
The experiment consumed more energy to create the fusion reaction than the energy released by it, but a sustained fusion event of this kind is a major advance.
“These landmark results have taken us a huge step closer to conquering one of the biggest scientific and engineering challenges of them all,” said Professor Ian Chapman, chief executive of the UK Atomic Energy Agency that co-funds and operates JET.
Unlike nuclear fission, which powers conventional nuclear reactors by splitting radioactive elements to release energy, fusion does the opposite.
It forces two forms of hydrogen to fuse together releasing around four times more energy by weight of fuel than a nuclear fission reactor and four million times more than burning fossil fuels.
JET uses a hollow, doughnut-shaped reactor vessel, called a tokamak, to heat its fusion fuel, namely, “heavy” hydrogen atoms deuterium and tritium, to 150 million degrees Centigrade.
This forms a “plasma” that’s around 10 times hotter than the sun. Thus for the few seconds the reactor is running, it’s the hottest place in our solar system.
Electromagnets surrounding the tokamak prevent this charged soup of ions from touching the sides and the whole reaction stopping.
Holding the plasma in this way allows fusion to occur, releasing energy. The latest results from JET prove that making fusion energy in this way is at least theoretically feasible.