Rebirth of science and technology academic master

Nuclear fusion power generation is still 50 years away!

This sentence has become a famous saying in the field of controllable nuclear fusion since the 1960s and 1970s, when controllable nuclear fusion was not really born.

Everyone originally thought that controllable nuclear fusion would be like nuclear fission. In addition to creating nuclear weapons with powerful destructive power, it would also play a huge role in people's livelihood, just like nuclear power plants.

After all, it took less than ten years to go from nuclear weapons to nuclear power plants. Although the first-generation nuclear power plants were not advanced, nuclear power plants with a single unit capacity of about 300 MWe still provided society with a huge amount of energy and promoted social progress. development of.

But no one expected that the date of the true birth of controllable nuclear fusion would be delayed year by year. More than 50 years have passed since it was originally said that mankind was about to usher in the era of controllable nuclear fusion. However, human beings are still in controllable nuclear fusion. The road is still full of ups and downs. This era of controllable nuclear fusion has not yet arrived, and we are still facing huge difficulties.

For example, plasma confinement stability issues, such as tritium long-term stable self-sustainability and tritium retention and leakage emissivity issues, such as Q-value issues, such as first wall material issues, such as how to safely and reliably convert the energy of high-energy neutrons into thermal energy to generate electricity Issues such as how to safely and cheaply dispose of radioactive fertilizers replaced after being bombarded by high-energy neutrons, such as how to reliably and economically maintain the superconducting state of confinement coils, etc.

Not to mention the 50 years that the public jokingly calls controllable nuclear fusion forever, even experts in this field are not sure that they can solve this series of problems within 50 years.

Controlled nuclear fusion will always be "50 years away". This is not only the consensus of the public, but also the consensus of the scientific community.

But at the same time, there is also a saying in the field of controllable nuclear fusion, which is that when the world needs nuclear fusion, it will appear!

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is currently one of the world's largest, longest-lasting, and most far-reaching international scientific research cooperation plans, with all major countries participating. The reason why everyone is so enthusiastic about this plan is because everyone knows in their hearts that controllable nuclear fusion must be realized. Otherwise, when oil resources are exhausted, mankind will have no future!

Controllable nuclear fusion represents unlimited energy and is the most critical factor related to whether humans can fly out of the earth and immigrate to the universe to ensure the long-term survival of human civilization!

As oil consumption becomes larger and faster, and the useful life of oil reserves continues to decrease, the sense of urgency for controllable nuclear fusion will become stronger and stronger.

High oil prices have led to high enthusiasm for ITER, and everyone hopes that ITER can produce controllable nuclear fusion to solve the energy crisis. But at the same time, ITER exceeds its budget by hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and is like a bottomless pit. No matter how much money is invested, there is no hope, and each participating country is gradually losing patience.

However, high oil prices and the depletion trend of oil resources have forced major countries to increase research on controllable nuclear fusion.

And when this urgency is felt to a certain extent, then all countries will develop controllable nuclear fusion at all costs. Then by that time, the birth of controllable nuclear fusion can be predicted.

At present, countries around the world are investing a lot of resources in researching controllable nuclear fusion, which proves this statement!

"James, controllable nuclear fusion is not that easy to achieve. Look at our 'Helix Stone 7-X' project. It has been planned since the late 20th century, but it did not enter the assembly stage until 2005, and the main assembly was only completed in 2014. , produced helium plasma for the first time at the end of 2015. After these 6 years of exploration, we have managed to complete a single operation and can continuously confine ultra-high temperature plasma for 6 minutes and 30 seconds, tying the Tokmak method to set the record for the highest confinement time!" said the German scholar.

"China wants to achieve a substantial leap in the controllable nuclear fusion project. It will not be possible within 10 years. And 10 years from now, maybe our 'Helix Stone 7-X' has already achieved the planned 30 minutes after optimization. It is possible to commercialize it!" The scholar emphasized: "Remember, this is only a possibility. At this point, it will take at least ten or even twenty years for the practical application of controllable nuclear fusion!"

Controllable nuclear fusion has a bright future, but it is not really ‘so cheap as to be almost free’ as some experts say, because controllable nuclear fusion is very complex in terms of engineering technology and has many systems. This means that even if controllable nuclear fusion is really born and can be used for commercialization, its initial construction investment will be astronomical, and the cost of operation, management, maintenance, and decommissioning at the end of its life will also be very high. There are also costs for the extraction of deuterium, the preparation of tritium, the processing of radioactive waste materials, etc. These costs must be amortized into the electricity bill during its life cycle. This makes the controllable nuclear fusion even if it is commercialized, it will not How much lower than today's electricity? It can be half as low as it is already a very optimistic estimate.

"Bach, don't be too arrogant! You have to remember that Professor Qin is not an ordinary scientist. Such a monster-like scientist cannot be inferred based on common sense!" Gunther Heisinger said in a deep voice.

As the director of the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics, Gunther Heisinger hopes that controllable nuclear fusion will be born in Germany more than anyone else, but he is also very calm. He is very clear about China's terrible mobilization ability and Qin Yuanqing's ability. Incredible magical abilities.

No one can guarantee that Qin Yuanqing will not be able to achieve controllable nuclear fusion.

"Everyone, I think the plan for 'Spiral Stone 7-X' must be accelerated, and ITER must also accelerate the plan, otherwise we will lose at the starting line!" James said.

As a representative of the United States, James wants to put pressure on ‘Spiral Stone 7-X’. Spiralite 7-X is built by the Institute of Plasma Physics, a subsidiary of the Max Planck Association, and is located in the northern German city of Greifswald. The project costs 1 billion euros, of which the German government bears 70% of the cost. In addition, it also received European Supported by many scientific research institutions and enterprises.

Therefore, the influence of the United States on 'Helix Stone 7-X' is not very large, and it can even be said to be very limited. In addition, Germany is currently the de facto leader of the EU, and the United States wants to forcefully suppress 'Helix Stone 7-X'. 'It's not realistic, we can only use threats and intimidation.

James is very clear that due to pressure from ecological and environmental protection organizations, Germany has chosen to shut down all nuclear power plants in the country. This has made the winter that just passed by Germany difficult. High electricity prices and record-high oil prices have made it unbearable. The price of heating has caused Germany to actually face an energy crisis. They are very eager for new and clean energy such as controllable nuclear fusion.

"This is impossible. 'Helix Stone 7-X' has just completed the experiment and is now undergoing maintenance!" a German nuclear engineer said angrily.

Originally, according to the plan of the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics, the installation of the water-cooled divertor would completely solve the problem of reaction chamber temperature. However, the results were not as ideal as imagined.

The plasma heated to a high temperature of 100 million degrees was indeed confined within the electromagnetic field, and the water-cooled divertor did play its role, but the temperature of the first wall increased faster than the on-site staff expected.

As a large amount of heat energy is accumulated that has no time to dissipate, the temperature of the first wall material continues to rise, gradually beginning to threaten the safety of the stellarator orbit.

In order to avoid major safety accidents, the staff had to turn off the equipment and terminate the test early.

In the end, after the installation of the water-cooled divertor was completed, the constraint of high-temperature and high-pressure plasma in the stellarator only lasted 6 minutes and 30 seconds.

Under such circumstances, the 'Spiral Stone 7-X' has entered a major overhaul. Only after a series of repairs are made to ensure that there are no problems, especially after the relevant problems are solved, the 'Spiral Stone 7-X' will start the experiment again.

When James heard this, his face couldn't help but darken. These bastards are really stubborn. Do they think that those German soldiers who only drink beer, eat sausages and have an obesity rate of over 80% can really guarantee their safety? ?

At the same time, James cursed secretly in his heart. If it were ten years ago, he would not need to be so aggrieved and angry.

It's a pity that now, the United States is also powerless!

After the final meeting, the Max Planck Plasma Institute still insisted on its position and views, and did not want to take the risk of starting the experiment again at this time. James said harsh words and left Deutschland.

"Bach, how did you solve the problem of a small amount of unbound plasma coming into contact with the first wall in the last experiment? Is there any progress?" Gunther Heisinger and Bach were walking side by side.

The reason why the previous experiment stopped at 6 minutes and 30 seconds is because starting from 227 seconds, a small amount of unbound plasma came into contact with the first wall and became the main cause of heat accumulation, which ultimately led to the accumulation rate of heat on the first wall material. The cooling effect of the water-cooled divertor exceeds the initial expectations.

Otherwise, the duration of the experiment will be record-breaking, breaking a series of records to boost morale.

As the person in charge, Gunther Heisinger is also under a lot of pressure. He has spent a huge amount of money to build the world's largest stellarator, so he must achieve results. Otherwise, there will be more and more opposition from young people outside the Max Planck Society. , then gathered together and shouted to stop the experiment of 'Spiral Stone 7-X' and use the funds to improve social welfare.

Just now, James and several others said that China is carrying out controllable nuclear fusion research. In fact, 'Helix Stone 7-X' is not only facing competition from China, but also from the United States.

Gunther Heisinger has not forgotten that the American laser nuclear fusion device is a nuclear fusion experimental device with the strongest laser beam in the world. This national stimulation experimental device located in California, USA, is already using 192 large lasers. The beam irradiates a tiny collection of hydrogen fuel to stimulate nuclear fusion in the fuel. This is a powerful opponent of 'Spiral Stone 7-X'.

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