Thermonuclear experiments

Masthead from the International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor (ITER) project website

In an experimental plant in southern France scientists are researching the ultimate energy source.  They are trying to prove the nuclear fusion can be harnessed to provide an infinite amount of power for the world.

This is ITER - the International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor project.  Their goal is to produce a nuclear reactor that produces at least 10 times more power than it consumes to prove that this type of energy production is a viable commercial proposition.  Ideally they want to push this differential out to 50 times.   Can you imagine that?  I can't.  The idea that you get more energy back than you put in is hard to grasp.

People don't like nuclear reactions.  They immediately start thinking Chernobyl or Fukushima or . . . .  or what? What other nuclear accidents can you think of?  These two stand out because they were firstly very rare blots on the industry's safety record but also so truly awful and let's face, with better oversight, completely avoidable.  The nuclear industry is its own worst enemy when it fails to police itself properly.

So, in an atmosphere of great mistrust and moves against nuclear power, why is ITER pushing ahead?

Well, ITER is not interested in creating new fission reactors that burn radioactive uranium and all the problems that that brings.  They are looking to produce nuclear fusion where two hydrogen atoms fuse together to create a single helium atom.  They are looking to copy what our greatest star has been doing continually for millions of years at temperatures of 15 millions degrees Celsius.

H-bomb testing in the 1950s

It's not like we don't know how to bring about nuclear fusion.  In the 1950s our testing of hydrogen bombs did that but as we know the output of the energy from a bomb is not the kind of controllable release we want for power generation.

There have been fusion experiments before.  One of the biggest scientific hoaxes of modern times came in 1989 when  two american scientists, Pons and Fleischmann, claimed that they had achieved cold fusion in a test tube but were never able to demonstrate it to the assembled scientific community.

The ITER project  is no backroom science experiment.  This is a truly international project that  will consume billions of dollars of investment.

The reactor is housed in a tokamak - a giant container that uses magnetic fields to hold a plasma (a cloud of ionised gas) at 150 million degrees Celsius (yes, 10 times the temperature of the sun's fusion).  ITER's process uses deuterium, a naturally occurring form of hydrogen with one neutron in the nucleus, together with tritium (which has 2 neutrons).  The deuterium and tritium atoms fuse to form a helium atom.  This apparently is the most efficient known fusion reaction we can achieve.

Nuclear fusion using deuterium and tritium fusing to form helium

The energy from the fusion reaction is absorbed by the walls of the tokamak then used to heat water to create steam that turns a turbine to generate electricity.

These guys are serious about their mission.  Their website says it all -  "In our opinion, the use of fusion energy is a "must" if we want to be serious about embarking on a sustainable development for future generations".

The very best of luck to them.

More on the International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor project

The International Thermonuclear Energy Reactor project

How does a fusion reactor work? (HowStuffWorks)

ITER project (The Independent UK)

Russian firm Rosatom is building ITER plant (Telegraph UK)

Next10 and solar power

The Next 10 Years: Solar power

What is this technology?

Solar power is the harnessing of energy from the sun in order to generate electricity.

This is not a new technology - solar or photovoltaic cells have been with us since 1931.

Solar (photovoltaic) panels

Solar power is a renewable energy source, meaning that it is not constrained by a finite supply like traditional fossil fuels, such as coal, oil or gas.

Solar power is already widely used domestically, generally as a secondary or back-up power source by mounting photovoltaic panels on the house roof.

Solar energy collection is ramped up on a commercial scale to generate power that feeds into the power grid like this development in the deserts of Nevada.

So, it's already happening but where will it go next?

What will happen?

Governments are coming under increasing pressure to change energy generation from fossil fuels and nuclear energy to sustainable, renewable methods.  That pressure will continue to build, resulting in civil unrest in states that refuse to yield to public opinion.

International treaties will penalise countries that fail to embrace renewable technologies, leading to trade sanctions and financial sanctions for non-compliance.

Tax breaks, government grants and other financial incentives will favour renewable energy schemes.

Private and commercial enterprise will develop solar power generation to create more efficient methods of generation, transmission and storage of electricity harnessed from solar radiation.

How will this impact society?

Land will need to be set aside to build vast solar farms.  In the same way that communities must now learn to live with the visual effects of wind farm developments, they will need to accept that power generation using solar power also requires allocating precious land resources.

50 hectares and 150,000 panels

People want renewable energy, as is demonstrated by the growing support for ecologically aware political parties.  However, it will be interesting to see whether this gives rise to an increasing 'not in my backyard' reaction from local communities.

As solar power generation and power from other renewable sources, such as wind, hydro, and wave enters the mainstream more households will reduce their dependence on commercial generation and install their own   solar panels or wind turbine for self-sustaining.

How will this impact industry?

Renewable energy appeals to people on a personal level.  It has a feel good factor that should not be underestimated.  It's not just the die-hard environmentalists that value projects that redress some of the balance by switching from toxic, resource depleting power generation to harvesting natural elements like the wind or the sun.

A company that can demonstrate commitment to using renewable power sources in their production processes is going to win some supporters from the general public but they may also gain some financial incentives too.  Where government or local councils grants and rebates are available to companies that embrace renewable resources, there are cost savings to be made in production.

Clearly it would be idealistic to think that a factory is going to disconnect from the power grid and plant a wind turbine in the carpark in a bid for self-sufficiency.  However, that same company may be able to save some money by covering their capacious warehouse roof with solar panels to cut down on the power they actually need to draw from the grid.  Those government grants or tax rebates could come in very handy for making those improvements a feasible development.

In developing nations where power has always been unreliable in its availability and prohibitively expensive, power generation from renewable resources like the solar power stations appearing in some Pacific Island nations, there is at last a real chance for sustainable projects and business enterprises to develop.  

What supports this prediction?

Directory of photovoltaic power generators

Greenough River solar farm (Australia)

Solar farm in Ghana

Hawaiian solar farm up and running

Tax incentives for solar energy (New York)

Home photovoltaic panels for solar energy

Wind turbine for home installation