The US Department of Energy has announced a major breakthrough after years of research into nuclear fusion, the “Holy Grail” of energy production.
The possibility of nuclear fusion as a source of almost unlimited clean energy is a field that has been studied since at least the 1930s. Billions of dollars have been invested in the search for the “holy grail” of the carbon-free energy source but so far without success.
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California are making a significant breakthrough. US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced that for the first time researchers have produced a net energy gain from an experimental fusion reactor.
Nuclear fusion will provide reliable and clean energy virtually forever
Nuclear fusion, the same form of energy production that powers the sun, will provide essentially unlimited energy, without the drawbacks. Burning fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases, nuclear fission reactors produce radioactive waste and renewable energies cannot produce continuous energy without storage.
Unlike nuclear fission where an atom splits and releases huge amounts of energy in the process, nuclear fusion causes two atoms to fuse together to form a heavier atom. This process also releases huge amounts of energy. However, for this to happen, enormous amounts of energy are required to raise the temperature of the atomic nuclei to a temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius.
The researchers at the experimental fusion reactor at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California used about 200 lasers that occupy an area the size of three football fields, bombarding a tiny ball of heavy hydrogen to initiate the fusion reaction in the material that becomes plasma.
In order for the process to be commercially viable, the energy produced by the fusion reaction (and which was hidden within the atoms) needs to be about 100 times greater than what was spent to release it. The researchers were able to produce a net energy gain of 120 percent, although the findings were preliminary.
“The new fusion technology allows us to reproduce for the first time certain conditions found only in stars like the Sun,” Granholm said at a press conference in Washington. “This milestone brings us one significant step closer to the possibility of clean fusion energy.”
Israel invests in research in the field of nuclear fusion
Prof. Avi Domb, Director of the Forum of Chief Scientists and Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, referred to the breakthrough presented by the National Ignition Facility (NIF) team of the US Department of Energy in Livermore, California, and said: “This is a significant achievement, which outlines a direction that will encourage scientists and governments, Including the Israeli government, to invest in research and development that will lead in the future to the production of non-polluting energy and saving the world from the damages of greenhouse gases.’
“The Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology signs dozens of agreements for scientific-technological cooperation with countries and international organizations, centralizes the use of international infrastructures, including laboratories relevant to the field of high energies. Since the means required for hydrogen fusion research are greater than a country’s ability to finance, the Israeli scientists as well as their friends from different countries use joint facilities to conduct experiments. Access to research infrastructures will allow Israeli researchers to take a significant part in research in this field, and there is no doubt that they will contribute to the global effort to solve the energy crisis. This discovery is also expected to be reflected in the priorities of the research grants awarded by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology for groundbreaking applied research.’
Prof. Domb also added that: “The process of producing energy from the fusion of hydrogen atoms is probably the cleanest and most efficient, but so far the energy required to initiate the fusion process is greater than the energy produced.” The process requires the production of heat of millions of degrees, which is a big challenge. In Europe, an experimental facility for hydrogen fusion is being built at a cost of tens of billions of Euros that will allow scientific experiments to be carried out in just a few years. The laboratory in the US proved that it is practically possible to produce energy from hydrogen fusion, but the road to implementation is still far away.”
50 times progress in five years
Dr. Gideon Friedman, Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Energy, that this is an important landmark in which for the first time more energy was produced as a result of nuclear fusion than the laser energy invested in its creation. It is especially worth noting the rapid progress in recent years, which has doubled the energy produced from fusion approximately 50 times in the last 5 years. However, it is important to understand that the distance to commercial use of this technology is still very large, and it is not possible, based on these results, to know whether the technology will mature into commercial in the foreseeable future. For example, even though more energy was produced than the lasers put in, the energy invested in the experiment is greater than what was produced, because the light that the lasers Producers contain only a small part of the energy required to operate the lasers, so in the calculation the total energy produced in an experiment is less than the energy invested in. In addition, the total energy produced in an experiment is small – equivalent to operating an electric kettle for 20 minutes – and the energy cannot be produced continuously.
In light of the importance of the issue, the Chief Scientist Unit at the Ministry of Energy already initiated the establishment of a research consortium in the field about two years ago, with an investment of more than 2 million NIS, and this year the establishment of a new virtual research institute in Israel. The institute will work with a budget of about 40 million NIS for 5 years, of which the ministry will invest NIS 30 million. The institute will strengthen scientific research, so that Israel can contribute to the advancement of fusion technology in the world. The intention is to focus on fusion that does not require investments and equipment as is the case in NIF or ITER, which is a huge European venture in technology Different from the NIF used above.
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