Core fusion could permanently secure energy supply. (Symbol image, photo: Freepik, PKProject)
Cadarache/Greifswald – A new record has been achieved on the way to generation of electricity through the merger of atomic nuclei. The plasma could be maintained in the fusion experiment “West Tokamak” for a good 22 minutes. The facility in Cadarache around 60 kilometers northeast of Marseille operates the French atomic energy commission CEA together with an international team of researchers. The period of time means an extension of 25 percent compared to the previous record holder, the Fusion experiment East in China.
The merger record in Germany is 8 minutes
“Wendelstein X”, a fusion experiment of the Max Planck Institute for Plasmaphysics In Garching near Munich, which was built in Greifswald on the Baltic Sea according to another technical principle (actuator), has so far been a maximum of 8 minutes. The goal is half an hour here.
The success in Cadarache – there is also the large system of iter, in which almost all nations are involved, the fusion research operates – shows that this is extremely hot plasma at 50 million degrees Celsius. Magnetic forces keep it away from the walls of the reactor container, which would be destroyed in contact in a second.
A reactor that can actually be used to generate electricity requires a plasma that is about twice as hot. There are only a few grams of hydrogen isotopes, the mer only gigantic amounts of thermal energy release.
Itter with a positive energy balance
According to the CEA, the next step will be to create plasms that remain stable over several hours, with the temperature increasing higher and higher. Ultimately, the aim is to generate more energy by fusion than the one used to heat the plasma. That should succeed in the Iter experiment. This facility, which will cost the global community more than 20 billion euros, cannot yet generate electricity. This is only planned for the next fusion reactor.
Core fusion, as it takes place in the sun, could permanently ensure the energy supply. The amounts of fuel are so low that the stocks on earth are sufficient for all times. For physical reasons, reactors that work according to this principle cannot get out of control. However, they produce radioactive waste, which are not as dangerous for widths as those from the magnetic fission. It should still take decades for the first fusion power plant to generate electricity and process heat.
Source: www.pressetext.com
(PTE012/19.02.2025/11: 30)