The record figure is reached at JET (Joint European Torus, European toroidal chamber) – now it is the world’s largest operating experimental thermonuclear reactor. JET is owned by the British Atomic Energy Agency but is used by the European nuclear research program Eurofusion.
The goal of plasma confinement experiments is to obtain a positive fusion energy flux, that is, such that the energy expended in a fusion reaction is less than that released during the reaction. In record-breaking type reactors, hydrogen isotopes collide at great speed, helium is formed and a lot of energy in the form of neutrons.
So far, this has not been successful, but a giant ITER is being built – also experimental, but much more promising than the already elderly JET.
“As it was predicted, it happened on JET,” comments the Dutch nuclear physicist Josephine Proll (she did not participate in the experiment). ITER will work as it should.”
“This is the pinnacle, the result of almost 20 years of work that is needed to predict the behavior of ITER. Congratulations to the team that made it! says Ann White, an American plasma physicist.
In the experiment, the scientists used tritium, a much rarer isotope of hydrogen. However, it must be remembered that this is exactly the reaction that is assumed for ITER.
“Five seconds is a huge achievement,” says Josephine Proroll. “It is very, very impressive!”