World's largest nuclear fusion reactor comes online in Japan
- Reference: 1701678673
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/12/04/jt_60sa_tokamak_online/
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Tokamak is an acronym from the Russian тороидальная камера с магнитными катушками which means "toroidal chamber with magnetic coils." When gaseous fuel is introduced into the chamber, the magnetic coils cause it to accelerate to very high speed, at which point the gas is ionized and becomes plasma.
The plasma is then heated to extraordinarily high temperatures (up to 300 million degrees Celsius) which is another reason for the magnetic coils – only powerful magnetic fields can contain plasma that hot.
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A [2]video of the event shows a countdown to activation of the tokamak at its inauguration. Upon activation, the plasma current hit one mega ampere. The discharge time was ten seconds and created around 140 cubic meters of plasma – the biggest volume of the super-hot star-like stuff humanity has yet created.
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An [5]announcement of the event reiterated that the EU and Japan supported operations and technical upgrades of JT-60SA so that it could continue research that informs the design of future fusion reactors.
The "SA" in the JT-60SA stands for "super advanced" – reflecting the fact it's an upgrade from the JT-60 – now with extra superconducting coils and other hardware.
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Construction has been ongoing since 2013, with commencement delayed by a 2011 earthquake that saw a planned 2016 debut pushed back. A short circuit in 2021 required the rework of insulation on over 100 electrical connections and pushed things back even further.
In October 2023, JT-60SA became the largest operational superconducting tokamak in the world when it achieved [7]first plasma .
[8]Why can't datacenter operators stop thinking about atomic power?
[9]NTT adapts AI network analysis tool to detect faults in nuclear fusion reactors
[10]Japan's space agency suffers cyber-attack, points finger at Active Directory
[11]UK's dream of fusion power by 2040s will need GPUs
The extremely high temperatures inside the tokamak could eventually be enough to force the hydrogen particles to overcome their natural electromagnetic resistance, and fuse together to create helium – releasing energy in the form of light and heat. It's a process that mimics the inner workings of the Sun.
Many – from scientists to climate change activists to energy industry professionals – have pinned hopes on using this process to fuel the world, as it is hoped to generate more energy than goes into producing it. Unlike nuclear fission, which splits atoms rather than fusing them, and produces dangerous waste products, fusion is considered clean.
"The generation of fusion energy does not produce carbon dioxide – making it an important technology in the path to net zero emissions. The fusion reaction is intrinsically safe: it stops when the fuel supply or power source is shut down. It generates no high-level long-lived radioactive waste," explained the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy.
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The JT-60SA is one of three fusion-related devices the EU and Japan are collaborating on, which complement the pair's work on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.
Meanwhile, ITER's main reactor and first plasma are scheduled for 2025. ITER, still under construction in France, will build on the knowledge scientists glean from tests on the JT-60SA. The six-storey tall JT-60SA is about half the planned height of ITER, but its plasmas are expected to closely resemble those produced by its successor. ®
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[2] https://www.youtube.com/live/sZbdDfJrXb8?feature=shared&t=1200
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[5] https://energy.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-and-japan-celebrate-start-operations-jt-60sa-fusion-reactor-and-reaffirm-close-cooperation-fusion-2023-12-01_en
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[7] https://www.jt60sa.org/wp/first-plasma-23-october/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/27/datacenters_nuclear_power/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/23/ntt_ai_nuclear_fusion_control/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/29/jaxa_cyberattack/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/29/uk_fusion_intel_cambridge/
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Re: Hope this goes well
Same. It seems we're always just on the cusp of success with it. Cannot wait (and hoping it's soon) we push over that into a fully operational reactor.
Re: Hope this goes well
Just another 20 years to wait (the same timescale as in 1970).
Re: Hope this goes well
Yeah, maybe not. I hope not, anyway. With fusion we will finally do away with all the stupid greenie arguments against nuclear and be able to advance to a society where energy is no longer a problem.
I'm looking forward to seeing that start before I retire, at best, or before I die, at worst.
Oh, and I basically just turned 57, so you see, I'm really hoping.
Re: Hope this goes well
"With fusion we will finally do away with all the stupid greenie arguments against nuclear and be able to advance to a society where energy is no longer a problem"
You wish. According to IAEA research, fusion power will produce far more radioactive wastes. Whilst they're low level or intermediate, unlike the long lived nasties from fission plants, you can be sure the unwashed, poorly educated greenies will be campaigning vigorously against fusion power.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-4326/ac62f7
Re: Hope this goes well
It will be interesting to see if any of the many fusion startups can leapfrog the "big science" fusion projects like ITER and JT-60. The likes of Commonwealth Fusion for example are using high-temperature (relatively speaking) superconductors that simply didn't exist when ITER was designed, allowing them to make magnets orders of magnitude smaller and much more practical. Exciting to see how the whole thing plays out.
ITER and JT
Seems that they both started construction the same year. Scientists, engineers and technicians have been collaborating on both projects. JT has achieved a monumental result already, but [1]ITER is going to make us wait another two years.
Is it because ITER is bigger ? The wiki says " ten times the plasma volume of any other tokamak operating today ", but that was before JT.
So what's the score now ?
And, hang on, whatever the score is, they planned a decade ago to have a fusion reactor ten times bigger than anything running a decade later ?
Wow.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER
I worry the "clean" nature may be being overstated here
Whilst the claim that it generates no high-level long-lived radioactive waste is true (since high level waste is pretty much defined as fission products), the materials that make up the tokomak are going to get bombarded by neutrons, so when, a couple of decades down the line, the experimentation is done, and it is disassembled, there is potentially going to be plenty of medium-level radioactive waste to deal with.
Obviously, this is much less of a problem than lots of messy and "hot" fission products, but why focus on the "clean" nature of the energy production, rather than, for instance, the cost and energy security aspects, which in my mind, are much more important.
While we're at it, let's remember that burning coal produces radioactive waste as well, and releases it into the environment at much higher levels than are allowed with nuclear fission, so drawing attention to the issue of radioactive waste may not have the desired effect of convincing people that this is a clean form of energy production.
We'll see
While I have hopes for fusion I could do without the disinformation.
It generates no high-level long-lived radioactive waste
Well, no - it wouldn't as high level waste tends to be short (half) lived, it's the low to medium level waste that has a really long half-life.
If they plan to use the neutron/lithium reaction to make tritium, firstly good luck, it's never been demonstrated on anything larger than a lab bench and secondly that reaction will produce radioactive waste - nowhere near as much as a fission reactor but quite enough to be an issue. If they are not planning on the neutron/lithium reaction I'd be interested in knowing where they plan to source the tritium from because it's an incredibly rare resource.
Hope this goes well
I've been watching this with interest for some time. It could solve a lot of problems.