The Joint European Torus (JET) facility reported a record-breaking production of energy from a sustained nuclear fusion experiment in a win for the future energy technology.
The UK-based facility was able to successfully produce 59 megajoules of heat for over five seconds, breaking its previous record of 21.7 megajoules set in 1997. These results are the clearest demonstration in a quarter of a century of the potential for fusion energy to deliver safe and sustainable low-carbon energy.
JET has the largest and most powerful operational tokamak in the world and is located at the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) site. A tokamak is a machine that uses powerful magnets to hold the superheated nuclear fusion reaction. The record is a result of tests and trials of over two decades’ worth of advances in fusion and the way forward in ground-breaking projects in nuclear fusion.
The experiment is part of a dedicated experimental campaign designed by EUROfusion – a consortium for the development of fusion energy.
EUROfusion’s Head of Fusion Science Department Volker Naulin, said in a statement: “As EUROfusion we designed this experimental campaign at JET to optimally prepare for the start of ITER by investigating the energetic processes that will come into play there and to prepare the next generation of fusion researchers. The results are support for an early decision for a European DEMO power plant, as fusion is needed for long term decarbonisation of our energy supply.”
Why is nuclear fusion becoming mainstream?
Simply put, it is what’s powering the universe and the reason the sun and the stars are shining. Specialists have long been excited about nuclear fusion because its fuel requirement – deuterium and tritium – are expected to last for thousands of years. In addition, fusion plants have to potential to occupy much less space compared to other renewable sources, for the same amount of energy they generate.
JET holds the world record for fusion power, and was designed to study fusion in conditions required for a power plant. These new experiments at JET are intended to pave the way for ITER – an international nuclear fusion research and engineering megaproject – which is under construction in southern France. It is expected to exhibit results by 2035.
ITER is supported by seven members – China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the USA – and will further demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy.
Record-breaking experiment explained
JET, operated by Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE), began its operations in 1983, making major advances in the engineering of fusion. The facility at its recent experiment was able to produce fusion power of around 11 megawatts. JET’s fusion experiment can create plasma that reaches temperatures of 150 million degree celsius, 10 times hotter than the centre of the sun.
The fusion process brings together atoms of light elements like hydrogen at high temperatures to form helium and release tremendous energy as heat, which can then be converted into electricity, using small amounts of fuel that be sourced worldwide, according to CCFE’s statement. JET can reach conditions similar to those in ITER and future fusion power plants, and is the only operational tokamak in the world that can use the same fuel mix planned for those devices.
“A sustained pulse of deuterium-tritium fusion at this power level – nearly industrial scale – delivers a resounding confirmation to all of those involved in the global fusion quest,” said Dr Bernard Bigot, director general of ITER. “For the ITER Project, the JET results are a strong confidence builder that we are on the right track as we move forward toward demonstrating full fusion power.”
Meanwhile, Ian Chapman, UKAEA’s CEO, added: “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.”
With increasing pressure to address climate change by decarbonising energy production, this record-breaking step forward in nuclear fusion is a major step in tackling the global energy crisis safely and efficiently, according to EUROfusion.
“It’s clear we must make significant changes to address the effects of climate change, and fusion offers so much potential,” concluded Chapman.
