Thursday, February 4, 2016


  • Experts injected hydrogen into reactor and heated it to create plasma
  • This effectively mimicked conditions inside the sun and other stars
  • In December, the scientists proved the reactor could work with helium
  • It's part of a global effort to harness nuclear fusion - a clean energy source 

 Scientists in northeast Germany have successfully completed their latest experiment on the road to harnessing nuclear fusion power. 
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute injected a tiny amount of hydrogen and heated it until it became plasma, effectively mimicking conditions inside the sun.
It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high temperatures and release large amounts of energy. 
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have injected a tiny amount of hydrogen and heated it until it became plasma (pictured), effectively mimicking conditions inside the sun. It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at  high temperatures and release large amounts of energy
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute have injected a tiny amount of hydrogen and heated it until it became plasma (pictured), effectively mimicking conditions inside the sun. It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at high temperatures and release large amounts of energy
Advocates acknowledge that the technology is likely many decades away, but argue that - once achieved - it could replace fossil fuels and conventional nuclear fission reactors.
Construction has already begun in southern France on ITER, a huge international research reactor that uses a strong electric current to trap plasma inside a doughnut-shaped device long enough for fusion to take place. 
The device, known as a tokamak, was conceived by Soviet physicists in the 1950s and is considered fairly easy to build, but extremely difficult to operate.

HOW DOES FUSION POWER WORK? 

Fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms.
When deuterium and tritium nuclei - which can be found in hydrogen - fuse, they form a helium nucleus, a neutron and a lot of energy.
This is down by heating the fuel to temperatures in excess of 150 million°C, forming a hot plasma. 
Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls so that it doesn't cool down and lost it energy potential.
These are produced by superconducting coils surrounding the vessel, and by an electrical current driven through the plasma. 
For energy production. plasma has to be confined for a sufficiently long period for fusion to occur.
The team in Greifswald, a port city on Germany's Baltic coast, is focused on a rival technology invented by the American physicist Lyman Spitzer in 1950. 
Called a stellarator, the device has the same doughnut shape as a tokamak but uses a complicated system of magnetic coils instead of a current to achieve the same result.
The Greifswald device should be able to keep plasma in place for much longer than a tokamak, said Thomas Klinger, who heads the project.
'The stellarator is much calmer,' he said in a telephone interview. 
'It's far harder to build, but easier to operate.'
Known as the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, or W7-X, the device was first fired up in December using helium, which is easier to heat.
Helium also has the advantage of 'cleaning' any minute dirt particles left behind during the construction of the device.
David Anderson, a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin who isn't involved in the project, said the project in Greifswald looks promising so far.
'The impressive results obtained in the startup of the machine were remarkable,' he said in an email. This is usually a difficult and arduous process. 
The hydrogen was heated in the doughnut-shaped Wendelstein 7-X machine (illustrated). Called a stellarator, the device uses a complicated system of magnetic coils to trap plasma  long enough for fusion to take place
The hydrogen was heated in the doughnut-shaped Wendelstein 7-X machine (illustrated). Called a stellarator, the device uses a complicated system of magnetic coils to trap plasma long enough for fusion to take place
The Wendelstein 7-X machine in Germany, which cost €1billion to build, creates conditions similar to those inside stars (illustrated). It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high temperatures and release large amounts of energy
The Wendelstein 7-X machine in Germany, which cost €1billion to build, creates conditions similar to those inside stars (illustrated). It's part of a worldwide effort to harness nuclear fusion, a process in which atoms join at extremely high temperatures and release large amounts of energy
The nuclear fusion research centre at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics is pictured. The device was first fired up in December using helium, which is easier to heat
The nuclear fusion research centre at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics is pictured. The device was first fired up in December using helium, which is easier to heat
Fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms. In stellarators, plasma is contained by external magnetic coils which create twisted field lines around the inside of the vacuum chamber (illustrated)
Fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms. In stellarators, plasma is contained by external magnetic coils which create twisted field lines around the inside of the vacuum chamber (illustrated)
'The speed with which W7-X became operational is a testament to the care and quality of the fabrication of the device and makes a very positive statement about the stellarator concept itself. 
'W7-X is a truly remarkable achievement and the worldwide fusion community looks forward to many exciting results.'
While critics have said the pursuit of nuclear fusion is an expensive waste of money that could be better spent on other projects, Germany has forged ahead in funding the Greifswald project.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who holds a doctorate in physics, attended today's event, which took place in her constituency.
The massive microwave ovens that will turn hydrogen into plasma, eventually reaching 100 million°C. This has been designed to mimic the conditions seen inside the sun (stock image)
The massive microwave ovens that will turn hydrogen into plasma, eventually reaching 100 million°C. This has been designed to mimic the conditions seen inside the sun (stock image)
The first plasma created in Wendelstein 7-X is pictured. It consisted of helium and reached a temperature of about 1 million °C (212 million °F). Over the coming years W7-X, which isn't designed to produce any energy itself, will test the extreme conditions such devices will be subjected to if they are ever to generate power
The first plasma created in Wendelstein 7-X is pictured. It consisted of helium and reached a temperature of about 1 million°C. Over the coming years W7-X, which isn't designed to produce any energy itself, will test the extreme conditions such devices will be subjected to if they are ever to generate power
Technical director Hans-Stephan Bosch holds up computer images showing the first plasma generated at the 'Wendelstein 7-X' nuclear fusion research centre at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in December
Technical director Hans-Stephan Bosch holds up computer images showing the first plasma generated at the 'Wendelstein 7-X' nuclear fusion research centre at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in December
Over the coming years W7-X, which isn't designed to produce any energy itself, will test many of the extreme conditions such devices will be subjected to if they are ever to generate power, said John Jelonnek, a physicist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.
Jelonnek's team is responsible for a key component of the device, the massive microwave ovens that will turn hydrogen into plasma, eventually reaching 100 million °C. 
Compared to nuclear fission, which produces huge amounts of radioactive material that will be around for thousands of years, the waste from nuclear fusion would be negligible, he said.
'It's a very clean source of power, the cleanest you could possibly wish for. We're not doing this for us, but for our children and grandchildren.'

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