Fusion energy as a precedence for the improvement of Chinese energy

chiny24.com 1 year ago

The Chinese government has announced that controlled atomic fusion is simply a precedence improvement direction for future energy. So he decided to consolidate the distributed technological and investigation work on the creation of a fusion reactor.

The leading entity in this process was designated China National atomic corp (chin. 中国核工业集团公司), which along with 25 another companies (such as China Aerospace discipline and manufacture corp Limited (chin. 中国航天科工集团有限公司) and State Grid corp of China (chin. 国家电网公司), technological and investigation institutes and 4 universities on 29.12.2023 signed an agreement to establish China fresh Fusion Energy Co., Ltd. (chin. 中国聚变能源有限公司).

The aim of this company is to carry out investigation and improvement work leading to the construction of the alleged "artificial sun".

The first prototype of a commercial fusion reactor is to be built by 2035 and the usage of this technology on a large scale for commercial purposes is to take place no later than 2050.

Controlled atomic fusion is an perfect solution to global request for inexpensive and “green” energy. To this end, China must make a advanced quality energy industry, utilizing the advantages of its central management strategy to concentrate national resources in this key project. Founders of China fresh Fusion Energy Co., Ltd. considered the issues concerning:

high temperature superconducting magnets,
materials for the construction of a fusion reactor and
high-performance energy storage.

They besides decided to make an innovative fund which, alongside state resources, will support the operation of this fresh company.

There are presently 2 leading fusion investigation and investigating centres in China:

Southwest Institute of Physics (chin. 西南物理研究院) at China National atomic Corporation;
Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hefei (chin. 中国科学院合肥等离子体物理研究所).

The aim of these 2 institutes is not only to carry out investigation and make fresh technology, but above all to accelerate the commercialisation of fusion energy technologies.

The fusion reaction is simply a phenomenon of combining (synthesis) 2 lighter atomic nuclei into 1 heavier. As a consequence of synthesis, immense amounts of energy appear. This reaction occurs at very advanced temperatures (100 million degrees Celsius and more) – their production is the “artificial sun”. At specified temperatures, atomic fuel obtains the form of plasma, which is simply a very good current guide. Plasma can be "imprisoned" in a strong magnetic field produced by peculiar magnets. In this field, charged particles orbit the field line. In addition, they can decision parallel to the field line, but if these lines are closed, then the particle is trapped. The most advanced devices utilizing this phenomenon are tokamaki.

Simplifying the full thought is to ignite the "artificial sun" (which requires a immense amount of energy), heat the gas containing hydrogen isotopes (deuterium, tritium) so that it takes the form of a plasma, trap the plasma in the magnetic field (which again requires a immense amount of energy) until light testicles, tritium nuclei and deuterium nuclei react, resulting in the formation of the helium nucleus, free neutron and a large amount of energy will be released. large adequate to keep any of it responding, and the surplus powered the power grid.

This technology (developed by scientists in the USSR in the 1950s has many hopes, due to the fact that the usage of fusion in energy would have many advantages:

‘no CO2 emissions – the only by-products of fusion reactions are tiny amounts of helium, which is inert gas that does not affect the environment in any way;
large fuel resources – deuterium can be extracted from water and tritium is produced from lithium – specified fuel will last for many millions of years;
Energy efficiency – 1 kilogram of fusion fuel can supply the same amount of energy as 10 million kilograms of fossil fuel;
No long-lived radioactive waste – only the components of the power plant itself become radioactive and can be safely recycled or disposed of within 100 years;
safety – the tiny amount of fuel consumed during fusion (weight equal to the postal stamp weight) means that no major atomic accident is possible here;
reliable power – atomic fusion power plants (nuclear) should guarantee reliable supply of large amounts of electricity at estimated costs akin to another energy sources.”