Britain plans to provide clean energy.
But, given the world history of nuclear disasters, is their Nuclear Fusion Reactor safe?
The EUROfusion website answers some of the questions:
How are alpha particles produced and how dangerous are they?
A:An alpha particle is produced by the alpha decay of a radioactive nucleus. Because the nucleus is unstable a piece of it is ejected, allowing the nucleus to reach a more stable state. The piece that is ejected is the alpha particle, which is made up of a two protons
Q: Assuming economically viable fusion can be achieved, could this technology be harnessed for use in spaceflight? If so, what could it mean in terms of flight speed?
A:We are entirely focussed here at JET on developing fusion as a source of electricity here on earth – and that is certainly challenging in its own right! As for the potential of using fusion power in spaceflight, it is certainly envisaged in many science fiction books, films etc.
Q: About 35 years ago I read a book about atomic energy. It said that human beings will need 30 years to benefit from fusion energy. It proved to be wrong. How long is the estimate now?
A:We have taken enormous strides in the last 30 years, but on the way discovered fresh challenges; for example, we have made incredibly hot plasma – over 100 million degrees, ten times hotter than the sun – only to discover it’s incredibly difficult to confine it!
Q: When are we going to use fusion as a source of energy? I remember 50 years ago they were talking about it, and so far I have not seen any of the present nuclear reactors replaced by fusion reactors. What is the problem?
A:The problem was the unrealistic expectations regarding our abilities to control the extreme temperatures in which fusion can burn (hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius). As it turns out it was easier to create the high temperatures than it was to control the plasma we had created.
Q: Does fusion give off radiation?
A:The fusion reaction releases neutrons, the energy of which will be used in future power stations to heat water to heat drive the power plant. The neutrons would be quite dangerous to humans, but when the plant is turned off the production of neutrons ceases within milliseconds.
Q: Since plasma is a super heated substance, will it cause the burning of the reactor and, if so, how far will the burning reach if the magnetic confinement or one of the control or safety systems fails?
A:The answer is one of the key advantages of fusion as a potential energy source over nuclear fission power stations – its inherent safety. Although the plasma in a tokamak is extremely hot, it is at low pressure, and so its total heat energy is not large
Q: Would it be best to devote a majority of resources to the Tokamak projects instead of Z pinch machines or laser type fast igniter approaches? Besides the technical spin-offs that the other approaches contribute, is the Tokamak more efficient design toward power plant production?
A:The tokamak is probably the most advanced fusion technology at the moment, however it has also probably had the most investment in it. All fusion approaches have their advantages and drawbacks, so it would be unwise to put all our eggs in one basket. Other possible fusion methods, inertial confinement, […]
Q: How is it that both fission and fusion produce power? If splitting a large atom into two smaller atoms releases energy, it seems that combining two smaller atoms into one larger atom would require energy, not release it.
A:Yes, at first sight it doesn’t make much sense. The key is in how tightly the protons and neutrons are held together. If a nuclear reaction produces nuclei that are more tightly bound than the originals then energy will be produced
Q: How do fission and fusion reactions compare?
A:In fission, energy is gained by splitting apart heavy atoms (uranium), into smaller atoms (such as iodine, caesium, strontium, xenon and barium, to name just a few) whereas fusion is combining light atoms, (in current experiments two isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium), which forms a heavier one (helium).
Q: How does fusion work?
A:Fusion releases energy when the nuclei of two forms of hydrogen (in our case, we use deuterium and tritium) are collided together at such high velocities that they stick together or fuse. Shortly after this, they break apart, forming a neutron and a helium nucleus.
Some progress comes with risk. The world has to decide if the risk is worth the progress.
You can ask YOUR question at the EUROfusion website.
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