What exactly is this breakthrough?
Fission and fusion are two different types of nuclear reactions that produce energy. Fission-powered power plants have been around since the 1950s, and India also has some of its own. But scientists have been working for years to develop a reactor based on nuclear fusion, touted as a clean, abundant and safe source of energy that could eventually allow humanity to break the reliance on fossil fuels that are causing the global climate crisis.
Fusion is the nuclear process that powers the Sun and other stars. It basically involves two atoms bonding or “fusion” together to form one atom of the heavier element. For example, inside the Sun, two hydrogen atoms fuse to form a helium atom.
The latest findings suggest that it may eventually be possible to replicate this process in a commercial power plant.
How is fusion better than fission?
Both fission and fusion use the binding energy of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom to release a huge amount of energy. The key difference between them is that fission is the splitting of a heavy and unstable nucleus into two smaller nuclei whereas fusion involves joining two light nuclei together.
A nuclear fission reactor uses uranium, which is not usually found, as fuel. When a uranium atom becomes excited and unstable when exposed to neutron radiation, it splits into smaller atoms of elements such as barium and krypton, while also releasing more neutron radiation, which in turn excites and breaks more uranium atoms, causing a chain reaction. The energy released is used to boil water to produce steam and run turbines to produce electricity.
The biggest problem with fission is that some of its byproducts remain radioactive for tens of thousands of years and must be handled in special facilities. In addition, reactor accidents can release radioactive material into the environment, as happened at Three Mile Island in 1979 and at Chernobyl in 1986.
However, nuclear fission currently provides about 10% of the world’s electricity from about 440 reactors, according to World Nuclear. organization More than 50 countries use nuclear energy in about 220 research reactors that are also used to generate medical and industrial isotopes. With 92 reactors, the United States is the world’s largest producer of nuclear power, accounting for more than 30% of global nuclear power production.
Fusion scores more than fission because it can yield many times more energy without producing highly radioactive substances
byproduct. But until now, fusion reactions in the laboratory have been difficult to maintain due to the extreme pressures and temperatures required to fuse nuclei together.
The fusion reaction consumes a large amount of energy because it occurs at temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius or higher. The only way to make it self-sustaining is to draw out more energy than it takes in, and do so continuously rather than for brief moments. Once fusion is commercialized, we will have virtually carbon-free electricity without any radioactive byproducts. It will help in the fight against climate change. Second, because nuclear fusion reactors require only the ubiquitous abundant hydrogen, they can be set up anywhere – unlike fission reactors that require rare radioactive substances. like uranium.
Can’t it happen at normal temperature?
Like the Sun and stars, the fusion experiment at LLNL uses “hot” fusion, which uses extremely high temperatures. However, some scientists have theorized that ‘cold’ fusion can occur at or near room temperature.
In 1989, electrochemists Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons reported that their device generated anomalous heat (excess heat) at an intensity that can only occur through nuclear processes. They also reported measuring small amounts of nuclear reaction byproducts, including neutrons and tritium. Their small tabletop experiment involved the electrolysis of heavy water – water made up of heavier hydrogen atoms – on the surface of a palladium electrode. Although their reported results raise hopes for an abundant and cheap source of energy, they cannot be replicated.
It could be true in 10 years
Unified Technology has attracted billions of dollars in investments from backers, including Jeff BezosBill Gates and Peter Thiel. In recent years, it has also won support from national investment funds, national development banks and venture capitalists. Fusion has raised $2. 8 billion in the past year, compared with about $2 billion in the previous decade. The Fusion Industry Association says more than 93 percent of companies responding to their survey believe fusion power will power the grid by the 2030s.
