Fusion energy may not be too far away
- December 28, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Fusion energy may not be too far away
Subject :Science and Technology
Context:
- The ‘breakthrough’ announced by the US National Ignition Facility has focused the spotlight on nuclear fusion. NIF reported a net energy gain (more output than input), which is deduced to have come from two nuclei of hydrogen atoms fusing to form a helium nucleus.
More in news:
- Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is building the world’s first fusion device that produces plasmas which generate more energy than they consume, becoming the world’s first net-energy fusion machine. The device, named SPARC, is for demonstration but a commercial plant is expected to follow.
- Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) was set up in 2018.
- CFS aims to build the demonstration plant, SPARC, by 2025 and the commercial plant by 2030.
Types of nuclear fusion:
- Within nuclear fusion, there are two segments — hot and cold.
- While NIF, ITER and CFS work on hot fusion.
- Hot fusion is where the temperature needs to be six times hotter than the core of the sun.
- Low-energy nuclear reaction (cold fusion):
- Cold fusion is a hypothesized type of nuclear reaction that would occur at, or near, room temperature.
- There is currently no accepted theoretical model that would allow cold fusion to occur.
- In 1989, two electrochemists, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, reported that their apparatus had produced anomalous heat (“excess heat”) of a magnitude they asserted would defy explanation except in terms of nuclear processes.
- They further reported measuring small amounts of nuclear reaction byproducts, including neutrons and
- The small tabletop experiment involved electrolysis of heavy water on the surface of a palladium (Pd) electrode.
Comparison of Cold and Hot Fusion:
Cold Fusion | Hot Fusion |
1. Occurs only in special solids. 2. Responds to modest energy but not required. 3. Uses protium (H) or Deuterium (D). 4. Makes mostly helium (He) when D is used. 5. Produces insignificant radiation. 6. Can be initiated in simple devices at high O/I levels. 7. It is a theoretical phenomenon. | 1. Occurs in plasma or when enough energy is applied. 2. Requires high energy. 3. Uses tritium and deuterium 4. Makes helium and neutron 5. Produces significant radiation 6. Requires a huge machine to produce high O/I levels. 7. Recently net positive energy has been produced using hot nuclear fusion technology. |