This $ 14 billion machine will become the future Sun of humankind

In June 2015, the total cost of ITER construction exceeded 14 billion USD but experts said this was a totally worthy investment.

With a diameter and height of 30m, a $ 14 billion fusion reactor called ITER (short for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor - will become an International Nuclear Thermal Reactor Project) will become a reactor. The world's largest fusion application. Scientists claim the project will open a new era for the use of human fusion energy, an era in which scientists have been tirelessly prepared for more than 40 years.

By the method of synthesizing 2 isotopes of hydrogen - deuterium and tritium , ITER will become a power source with a capacity of 500 MW. This is equivalent to 10 times the amount of energy it needs to operate, so ITER is expected to become the first fusion reactor to bridge the gap between research works such as the reactor. The world's largest Stellarator nuclear fusion device, named Wendelstein 7-X , is worth up to 1 billion Euros and fusion power plants can supply power to major cities in the future.

The US $ 14 billion fusion reactor is called ITER.

In June 2015, the total cost of ITER construction exceeded 14 billion USD but experts said this was a totally worthy investment. Nuclear fusion is the main process that creates the power of stars like our Sun so the goal of building a fusion power plant is comparable to "creating a Sun on the Left." Earth and plug the power cord into it for use " - quoted Jonathan Menard, chairman of Princeton's Laboratory of Fusion Reactions for Plasma Physics. In addition, fusion energy has obvious advantages over current energy types:

1. The waste from nuclear synthesis is completely recyclable within 100 years, they are not radioactive, so they are completely damaged by the environment and human health.
2. The rate at which the reactor loss occurs is a plump figure because only the smallest incident can cause the reactor to be inoperable.This limits the possibility of nuclear catastrophes such as Chernobyl or Fukushima as low as possible.
3. Compared to fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum, the material for fusion reactors is seawater - this is the basis for talking about a clean and completely energy source. Ability to safely regenerate.

Fusion energy has obvious advantages over current energy types.

Although there are many advantages over current forms of energy, fusion energy is still having difficulty solving the biggest problem today: the types of reactors being used all consume more energy. Compared to the number they created, wanting to advance to fusion power plants in the future, scientists must handle this problem when building ITER.

This problem stems from superheated plasma due to seedling furnaces but ITER - the Tokamak type of furnace - created because although it reached the standard temperature to produce plasma, the process took place not long. The record of the plasma maintenance time belongs to the Tore Supra reactor on December 16, 2003 with a time of 6 minutes and 30 seconds, it is currently in the process of upgrading and is scheduled to continue operating during the year. now on. In addition, the plasma produced is often in the form of continuous flashes in small bursts in a short period of time, making the goal of creating a continuous plasma flow to operate a generator still in theory.

To solve this problem, scientists have come up with a self-sustaining plasma name option, which is also the basic construction target of ITER. Once completed, the ITER can create a plasma mixture with temperatures up to 150 million degrees Celsius - 10 times higher than the surface temperature of the Sun. This temperature is strong enough to synthesize deuterium and tritium into helium. After being formed, helium atoms will fly in the furnace's lap and collide with the walls of the furnace to produce energy in the form of heat to ensure that the plasma can maintain that state continuously. Currently, the self-sustaining plasma has only been removed inside the furnace.

Once completed, ITER kilns can create plasma mixtures with temperatures up to 150 million degrees Celsius.

Tokamak-type reactors consist of a ring-shaped vacuum chamber, which is heated to over 150 million degrees Celsius, forming extremely hot plasma. Then use a very strong magnetic field to remove the plasma from the safe shell. Around the safe shell there is a superconducting coil used to create extremely strong magnetic fields. This superconducting coil technology is the most difficult technology in the design of a fusion reactor.

According to the plan, the ITER kiln will have a magnetic field with a power of 100,000 times the magnetic field of the Earth field. In addition, scientists also designed a 6m-diameter tank to confine 840 cubic meters of plasma, the same. one third of an Olympic standard swimming pool. The device will weigh 23,000 tons, including 100,000km of niobium-tin alloy superconducting wire. This alloy is a superconductor at minus 269 degrees Celsius, so the device will be in a liquid helium chiller to keep the superconducting wires at temperatures several degrees higher than absolute zero.

Description of furnace structure ITER.

The ITER kiln construction project has the participation of seven members - EU, India, Japan, China, Russia, Korea and the United States. The European Union, where ITER is located, contributes 45% of the total investment of the project, and the other 6 parties each contribute approximately 9%. Under the plan, ITER will create the first plasma flows in 2020, while burning plasma experiments are expected to begin in 2027. If ITER goes into operation, it will become a physics experiment. The largest magnetic confined plasma in the world, surpassed the Joint European Torus experiment. The first nuclear fusion plant, named DEMO, is scheduled to be built after the ITER project if it succeeds.