La nuclear energy it has a great relevance in the world energy system. It is capable of generating a large amount of energy at the cost of leaving some nuclear waste to be treated. Nuclear fusion It is one of the greatest challenges that humanity has yet to develop. This is an immense opportunity that could end the problems of energy and supply deficits. Around the world there are numerous scientists who are leading great research on it.
In this article we are going to tell you what nuclear fusion is and what are the advantages and opportunities that it would bring to humanity if it were to become commercial. Do you want to know more about it? You just have to keep reading.
Which is nuclear fusion
In a previous article we saw that nuclear fission it was about breaking heavy atoms like plutonium and uranium to obtain energy. In this case, nuclear fusion signals a totally opposite process. It's a reaction capable of joining two lighter cores to form a heavier one.
Joining two lighter atoms to make a heavier one releases energy, since the heavy nucleus is less than the sum of the weight of the two nuclei separately. Taking advantage of this, energy can be released in the process for anything. Taking into account that the energy of this process is very concentrated, in just one gram of matter there are millions of atoms present, so with little fuel it could generate huge amounts of energy if we compare it with current fuels.
Depending on the nuclei that participate in this nuclear fusion process, more or less amount of energy will be generated. The easiest reaction to achieve is the union between deuterium and tritium to get helium. In this reaction, 17,6 MeV would be released. It is a practically inexhaustible source of energy since we can find deuterium in seawater and tritium can be obtained thanks to the neutron that is given off in the reaction.
How is nuclear fusion done?
Although this global energy production would solve energy and pollution problems, doing so is not easy. You know for sure that it works and you know how to do it. However, the conditions necessary to be able to control with absolute precision all the demands of the process are not yet fully known. You have to think that this nuclear fusion is a process that takes place in our largest star, the Sun. Therefore, you have to get very high temperatures to carry it out.
Particles in the form of clouds can be used inside nuclear fusion reactors, which are subjected to two hundred million degrees of heat. Imagine just a second at those temperatures; it would mean the total disintegration of almost any object. These temperatures are necessary if we want the process to take place. Just dealing with these high temperatures is already a challenge for scientists, since there is no material that can withstand them without destroying itself.
To alleviate this situation of crazy temperatures, plasma is used. Its magnetic confinement effect is ten times hotter than the Sun's core. The monstrous temperature to which these atoms must be subjected is because it is the only way for them to give it. kinetic energy necessary for them to overcome their natural repulsion and merge.
The two nuclei They have the same electrical and positive charge, therefore, they repel each other. With such high temperatures, we will be able to generate such strong kinetic energy that it can transfer the ability to bond. Working with these temperatures and controlling all the factors and conditions that intervene in it is something totally complicated.
Scientific containment strategies
For the above reasons, scientific groups investigating nuclear fusion have designed two different stages and strategies: magnetic confinement and inertial confinement.
Magnetic confinement is the one that focuses on making the plasma inside a magnetic field prevent the nuclei of the atoms that are XNUMX million degrees Celsius from touching the walls of the reactor. In this way, eWe will be protecting what is used for the merger to take place.
An important aspect to take into account is that, although all the particles are subjected to these temperatures, not all can undergo the bonding process. This is a parameter pointed out by scientists as limiting the profitability of nuclear fusion from an energy point of view. In such a way that, to be economically viable, the number of mergers must be so high that the energy generated is higher than that invested in its production.
The Sun, although it has a temperature 10 times lower than that needed to produce nuclear fusion, given its enormous mass, allows it to increase the pressure to which the nuclei are subjected and fusion occurs by gravity confinement. That pressure cannot be recreated on our planet, so these temperatures have to be reached.
On the other hand, inertial confinement does not use a magnetic field to prevent the plasma from touching the reactor walls, but rather proposes the use of a fuel to get a small portion of deuterium and tritium to implode. Thus, all the material condenses in a violent way and results in the union of the nuclei of deuterium and tritium.
When will it be commercially viable?
For this process of obtaining energy to be fully commercially viable, there is still a minimum of three decades of research and testing. Maintaining the current rate of research and investment on the subject, it is possible that the technique with which it is finally made commercial is with magnetic confinement.
If we want to have energy production from nuclear fusion by the middle of this century, we need scientists to have the necessary material and resources to carry out all the relevant research. If this is not the case, we will only have laboratories full of scientists who are entertained and without progress.