An international cohort of nuclear experts are combining advanced computing, magnetics, sensors, and their own expertise as they work to expedite sustainable fusion reactions, according to a press release on the Spain-based project.
A description from Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory describes it as an effort to "solve the world's energy crisis."
"We have to all do this together or it's not going to happen," Jack Berkery, Princeton's principal investigator for the project, dubbed the SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak, said.
The Princeton team is working with experts from the University of Seville to figure out a reliable, cost-effective way to fuse plasma to create cleaner energy. Unlike fission — the common reaction used in the world's approximately 440 nuclear reactors — fusion combines elements to create heat energy. Fission splits atoms and creates long-lasting nuclear waste. Fusion doesn't, but researchers have yet to create a sustainable reactor, as the International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Nuclear Association observed.
But teams of scientists are working on groundbreaking techniques to harness the nearly everlasting power, including the largest tokamak in the world, located in France. Tokamaks are large, often doughnut-shaped magnetic confinement chambers able to withstand incredibly hot reactions, as depicted by the U.S. Energy Department.
The experts at Seville are working with astoundingly hot plasma. In a video clip, Princeton experts describe plasma as the "fourth state of matter," essentially a superheated gas making up most of the visible universe, including the sun.
The researchers are experimenting with plasma's shape — classified as positive or negative — inside the tokamak. Their tinkering with its "triangularity" could help suppress instabilities. The team arrived at a spherical tokamak and a negative-oriented triangularity, according to the research summary.
"It's a potential game changer with attractive fusion performance and power handling for future compact fusion reactors," Seville Professor Manuel Garcia-Munoz said.
The effort also leverages Princeton's expertise in magnetics and diagnostic sensors, which can operate for decades, per the summary.
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Nuclear energy of any type is appealing because it provides air-pollution-free power. But, in addition to waste, fission carries meltdown potential. Physicist Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, told The Cool Down that nuclear power is increasingly expensive. He said other renewables, like solar and wind power, are more advantageous to develop. The institute is working to transform the global energy system, according to its website.
Controlled fusion, however, would be a breakthrough for nuclear as climate and energy scientists work to limit the planet's overheating, linked by NASA to increased risks for floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events that impact even our food system.
At Seville, the team is working toward the "first plasma" benchmark, a crucial milestone being achieved at other labs, as well. The experts in Spain hope to hit their goal by the end of the year.
"The initial laser test results were just gorgeous," Princeton physicist Manjit Kaur said in the press release. "Now, we eagerly await receiving other parts to get the diagnostic up and running."
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