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It’s the same process that allows the sun and stars to shine blindingly bright and if scalable, could mark a serious contender in an energy mix that takes on climate change.
A large, doughnut-shaped machine called a tokamakScientists from Culham, England, created the record-breaking 59 MegajoulesDuring trials in December, sustained nuclear Fusion Energy was tested for over five seconds. The scientists revealed Wednesday’s findings. This is more than twice the previous record for generating sustaining fusion.
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atoms are fused into one larger one. This process can release potentially useful energy such as heat. The process of creating nuclear power is called fission. This involves splitting atoms and harnessing the energy.
A magnetic field is required to contain the high temperatures created by the fusion process — some 150 million degrees Celsius, 10 times hotter than the center of the sun.
Scientists have created fusion energy before. However, it has been difficult to sustain the power. For now, five seconds is the limit the machine can sustain the power before its magnets overheat, explained Tony Donné, CEO of EUROfusion, which ran the tests, at a press conference.
EUROFusion
“The record, and more importantly the things we’ve learned about fusion under these conditions and how it fully confirms our predictions, show that we are on the right path to a future world of fusion energy. If we can maintain fusion for five seconds, we can do it for five minutes and then five hours as we scale up our operations in future machines,” said Donné.
EUROfusion is a group of 4,800 scientists and students from Europe. The U.K. Atomic Energy Authority participated, and the European Commission contributed funding.
“It’s clear we must make significant changes to address the effects of climate change, and fusion offers so much potential,” said Ian Chapman, of the Atomic Energy Authority. “We’re building the knowledge and developing the new technology required to deliver a low-carbon, sustainable source of baseload energy that helps protect the planet for future generations. Our world needs fusion energy.”
Don’t miss: Biden hits on climate change words Republicans love to hear: Nuclear, carbon capture, and technology jobs
Current nuclear energy, while considered by its proponents to be much “cleaner” than alternatives, including oil
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This radioactive waste can last for tens or thousands of years.
It’s also potentially hazardous in the event of an accident, such as Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster, which followed the area’s deadly earthquake and tsunami. Notable nuclear disasters also rocked the area. Chernobyl, Ukraine, 1986 Pennsylvania’s Three-Mile Island1979. Many plants have been able to produce energy without any difficulty.
Related: Good news for uranium – Nuclear energy has a record level of reliability, despite past failures
President Joe Biden has included nuclear energy, which is presumably based on the traditional process, in a broad-ranging climate and energy proposal. However, this was part of a larger spending bill called Rebuild BetterClimate-change initiatives and other proposals have met with resistance in a tightly contested Congress. This includes skepticism from Joe Manchin, a West Virginia energy-state Democrat.
Biden expressed interest in such a move after Manchin told Biden that it would be easier for him to pass the $500 billion climate provisions contained in Build Back Better.
Read: A poll shows that even the American political right is concerned about climate change.
Already, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which was passed last year, has pledged spending in areas that both Manchin (and Biden) can support, including $10 billion for carbon-capture and $2.5 billion to advance nuclear. Some environmentalists say carbon capture won’t do enough to slow demand for oil and gas, Global warming has been shown to accelerate. Manchin has been a strong supporter for clean hydrogen, although it is still in its early stages. Congress allocated $8 million to hydrogen fuel hubs as part of the infrastructure bill.
Read: Don’t rule out natural gas in the clean-energy transition, trade group says
Build Back Better includes $23 Billion in additional production tax credits for nuclear. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
In a 2020 poll Morning Consult1 in 3 Americans believed that the U.S. should keep existing nuclear plants online and not build new facilities. A mere 16% believed that the U.S. should maintain existing nuclear plants and build new reactors. 29% of Americans viewed nuclear energy favorably, 49% disagreed. This makes it the least popular source of energy other than coal.
