The Iter Project and Fusion Energy

As fossil fuel go up in price and the depletion of our natural resources there is hope in an alternative way of generating vast amounts of Energy. Nuclear fusion involves the bringing together of atomic nuclei. The atom’s nucleus consists of protons with a single positive charge and neutrons of similar mass and no charge. The strong nuclear force holds these “nucleons” together against the repulsive effect of the proton’s charge. As many negatively charged electrons as protons swarm around the nucleus to balance the proton charge, and the mass of the atom lies almost totally in the nucleus.

Two nuclei, here deuterium and tritium,
fuse together to form helium, a neutron, and a
large amount of energy

Advantages of Fusion Energy
First of all, fusion is an almost limitless fuel supply. The basic fuels are distributed widely around the globe. Deuterium is abundant and can be extracted easily from sea water. Lithium, from which tritium can be produced, is a readily available light metal in the Earth´s crust.Fusion produces no greenhouse gas emissions. Fusion power plants will not generate gases such as carbon dioxide that cause global warming and climate change, nor other gases that have damaging effects on the environment.Fusion is suitable for the large-scale electricity production required for the increasing energy needs of large cities. A single fusion power station could generate electricity for two million households.Waste from fusion will not be a long-term burden on future generations. Only metal parts close to the fusion plasma will become radioactive. Any radioactive waste generated will be small in volume and the radioactivity will decay over several decades with the possibility of reuse after about 100 years.No transport of radioactive materials is required in the day-to-day operation of a fusion power station, as the intermediate fuel tritium is produced and consumed within the power plant.The fusion reaction is inherently safe. Only about two grams of fuel is present in the plasma vessel, enough for a few seconds of “burn”. As fusion is not a chain reaction, the reaction can never run out of hand.

The Fusion Process

The Iter Project (International Fusion Energy Organization) is a multi-national venture that is building a fusion energy device in the South of France. The current countries are part of the project include the European Union (represented by EURATOM), Japan, the People´s Republic of China, India, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the USA. The ITER project will show how fusion could be used to generate electrical power, and to gain the necessary data to design and operate the first electricity-producing plant. Excerpt from website: “In ITER, scientists will study plasmas in conditions similar to those expected in a electricity-generating fusion power plant. It will generate 500 MW of fusion power for extended periods of time, ten times more than the energy input needed to keep the plasma at the right temperature. It will therefore be the first fusion experiment to produce net power. It will also test a number of key technologies, including the heating, control, diagnostic and remote maintenance that will be needed for a real fusion power station.” The Iter Project begins construction in 2008, with a view of obtaining the first plasma in 2016. This will be followed by an exploitation phase lasting about 20 years.

Source: The ITER Project