Galeria

The scientist in charge of Europe’s drive to harness a revolutionary new form of energy has accused Theresa May of risking its development by putting up a “new political wall” between researchers. Professor Tony Donné said Brexit and the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU’s atomic agency would mean a “strong negative impact” on ground-breaking nuclear fusion research.

UK and EU scientists are collaborating under his programme to be the first to make a major breakthrough on fusion technology, which mimics processes at the core of the sun and promises a new era of clean, safe and cheap energy.

Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Prof Donné said Brexit had “only losers in fusion research” and went on to put up a staunch defence of EU free movement as a way of harnessing the collective knowledge needed to make its success a reality. His intervention follows attacks from other scientists and doctors arguing withdrawal from the Euratom agency risks the UK’s power supply, life-saving cancer treatments and plans to make all cars on British roads electric. A survey of specialists said retaining links to the agency should be a high priority.

Prof Donné is the programme manager for EuroFusion, the umbrella organisation of Europe’s fusion research laboratories. He said: “Brexit has only losers, as it will have a strong negative impact on European, UK and international fusion research.” Currently nuclear reactors produce power by fission, splitting uranium atoms and harnessing the energy released to drive turbines and generate electricity. But scientists know it would be more efficient to actually force hydrogen atoms together through fusion, producing four times as much energy, with helium the only by-product, and removing the toxic waste created by fission.  

At the international ITER project in France, EuroFusion and other scientists are trying to build a huge magnetic ring that can force heavy hydrogen isotopes to fuse together at temperatures up to 150 million degrees Celsius, for operation in 2025.

Prof Donné set out how fusion scientists during the Cold War helped inspire Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to start ITER and more recently brought Russian and Ukrainian academics together despite the problems between those countries. He said: “Unfortunately, almost at the same time when Ukraine became associate member of Euratom, Theresa May announced a new political wall, Brexit. “This causes a new hurdle for the fusion scientists as the United Kingdom is one of the key players in European and international fusion research.”

Days after immigration data revealed the number of EU nationals coming to the UK plummeted, he argued free movement is critical to gain and retain skilled scientists and engineers. One project Prof Donné claims is immediately threatened when the UK falls out of Euratom and the EU is the Joint European Torus scheme hosted in the UK at Culham near Oxford. JET, commissioned by Euratom, is Europe’s main ongoing nuclear fusion experiment and is integral research for making Iter a success in proving fusion energy can work on an industrial scale.

The decision to leave Euratom is believed to be largely driven by Ms May’s desire to remove the UK from all areas of jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, which oversees the nuclear agency. But under pressure from MPs, including enough on the Conservative benches to cause an upset in the Commons, it has signalled a potential softening, emphasising a “strong, mutual interest” in ensuring the UK work closely with Euratom. Brexit Secretary David Davis has said that an “association agreement” may even be possible, but has been clear the UK will not sign up to any mechanism which gives the ECJ oversight over UK affairs. A Government spokesperson said: “We have been clear that we want the UK to remain the best place for science and innovation.  As a key contributor to the EU’s nuclear fusion research programme, we will be working closely with our EU partners to ensure international collaboration in this field continues. “That’s why the Government has pledged to meet its fair share of funding for the JET project until the end of 2020, should the EU extend the contract to host the Oxfordshire-based JET facility beyond 2018.” But UK Atomic Energy Agency chair Professor Roger Cashmore has warned leaving Euratom will leave no framework for transporting nuclear materials between Britain and the EU, with a risk the UK could run out of fuel within two years – just as Britain increases its reliance on nuclear energy.

Professor Martin Freer, one of Britain’s leading nuclear physicists, told The Independent earlier this month the “shortsighted” decision to quit Euratom would also hit the UK’s nuclear-driven power supply, just as demand for electricity explodes due to a soaring number of battery-powered cars – the Government wants to ban all petrol cars by 2040. Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, warned in July that quitting would make it harder for the UK to access the isotopes for cancer treatments and medical imaging.

A survey of over 1,500 energy and nuclear specialists published by Prospect today showed 86 per cent thought keeping links with EU energy agreements is a high priority for Brexit negotiations, while 82 per cent called for the Government to opt to stay in Euratom or retain “associate membership”.  

Source: Independent

Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the sun, but closer to home scientists are trying to develop fusion reactors that could provide immense amounts of energy. These reactors are big and (currently) inefficient, but a NASA-funded startup called Princeton Satellite Systems is working on a small-scale fusion reactor that could power advanced fusion rockets. Suddenly, other planets and even other star systems could be in reach.

All the forms of rocket propulsion we currently have involve accelerating propellant out of a nozzle. Then, physics takes over and the vessel moves in the opposite direction. Most spacecraft use chemical propulsion, which provides a large amount of thrust over a relatively short period of time. Some missions have been equipped with ion drives, which use electrical currents to accelerate propellant. These engines are very efficient, but they have low thrust and require a lot of power. A fusion rocket might offer the best mix of capabilities.

Princeton Satellite Systems is working on a small-scale fusion reactor that would only be 1.5 meters across and 4-8 meters long (4.9 by 13-26 feet). A experimental fusion power plant might cost $20 billion, but the smaller version being developed by Princeton Satellite Systems should only cost about $20 million. NASA seems interested in the idea, too. It’s given Princeton Satellite Systems three grants so far to pursue its research.

The goal is to generate 1 kilowatt per kilogram, so a 10-megawatt reactor would weight about 10 metric tons. This provides all the power a spacecraft would need, regardless of its distance from the sun, but what about propulsion? A fusion reactor uses magnetic fields and low-frequency radio waves to compress and heat matter until it becomes plasma that can undergo fusion (Princeton Satellite Systems uses a mix of deuterium and helium-3 in its reactor). As the plasma rotates, some of it can be directed out of a nozzle, and you’ve got a high-thrust, high-efficiency engine.

There are still issues to address with Princeton Satellite Systems’ design. For one, the reactor produces dangerous radiation that requires shielding from crew and computer systems. Additionally, helium-3 is rare on Earth. The company hopes to have a working prototype reactor by 2019 or 2020. From there, the sky’s the limit.

Source: ExtremeTech

The fusion world directed its applause to the east earlier this month as the Kazakh tokamak KTM started operations with a first plasma discharge.

"We are happy to report that the main objectives of the start-up have been achieved," reported lead scientist Irina Tazhibayeva at the World Scientific and Engineering Congress held this week in the Kazakh capital of Astana.

The KTM tokamak offers a unique feature among materials testing facilities: that is, a movable divertor and transport-sluice device allowing for the prompt replacement of the materials samples under investigation without the loss of vacuum in the vacuum chamber. A mobile receiving device inside the vacuum chamber is designed to manoeuvre all of the replacements through a gateway and to position the divertor plates through vertical and angle positioning.

In this way, 24 elements of the divertor (located at the bottom of the machine) can be replaced by remote control.

Last week it was finally time to count down to the start of machine operation. During the start-up, a plasma discharge pulse of 10 kA was achieved. The plasma discharge pulse time was 20 ms and a toroidal field of Bt ~ 0.35 T could be confirmed. Hydrogen, helium, and argon were used as working gases.

The ITER Organization has officially welcomed the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NNC-RK) as a new technical collaborator.

On Sunday 11 June, a Cooperation Agreement was signed by ITER Director-General Bernard Bigot and the director of Kazakhstan's National Nuclear Center, Erlan Batyrbekov, calling for scientific and engineering cooperation between the two institutions. Agreement scope includes the technical exchange of experts, access to Kazakhstan's KTM tokamak for materials testing, and the development of diagnostics for ITER.

Kazakhstan also has an abundance of mineral resources that are of interest to ITER, some of which—like beryllium—are of great relevance to the project.

"We are very thankful to add today a new collaboration partner to the ITER Project," said Bernard Bigot. "It is a unique opportunity, enabling us to perform detailed material studies at the recently inaugurated KTM tokamak."

The world's most sophisticated superconducting magnet is made in Europe. It is 14 m high, 9 m wide and weighs 110 tonnes—as much as Boeing 747! This is the first of the 18 Toroidal Field (TF) coils that will operate in ITER, the biggest fusion machine that will demonstrate the feasibility of this energy source for the future. The coils will create a powerful magnetic cage that will entrap the fusion fuel which is expected to reach 150 million ° C. When powered with 68 000 A, the ITER TF coils will generate a magnetic field that will reach 11.8 Tesla—about 1 million times stronger than the magnetic field of the Earth!

Europe will manufacture nine of them, plus one spare. The other nine will be fabricated in Japan. Fusion for Energy (F4E), the EU organisation managing Europe's contribution to ITER, together with ASG Superconductors, Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción, Elytt Energy, CNIM, SIMIC and the ICAS consortium, have been collaborating for the production of these impressive magnets. At least 600 people from 26 companies have been involved in their production. ITER has given Europe's industry a one-of-a kind opportunity to improve their manufacturing standards through learning by doing. As a consequence, the companies have extended their know-how, employed and trained workforces, and have identified potential markets offering them a commercial edge in the field of superconductivity.

This achievement results from various contracts starting with the production of a 20 km conductor for the TF coils, involving ICAS, the Italian Consortium for Applied Superconductivity consisting of ENEA, Criotec Impianti Srl and TRATOS Cavi spa. Antonio della Corte, President of the ICAS consortium and Head of ENEA Superconducting Laboratory, explained that "our contribution to the superconducting conductor for the ITER magnets allowed us to develop new ideas which improved our production technologies and use them in different applications."  

ASG, Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción and Elytt, have used parts of this conductor to manufacture Europe's first TF coil magnet. A vast new facility, which used to be the site of a washing machines factory, has been constructed and has become a hub of expertise by retraining its original workforce and installing state of the art equipment.

Stefano Pittaluga, ASG Superconductors, stated that "thanks to ITER, and our company's leadership in fusion magnet technology, we now see new possibilities of growth in the energy sector. We are ready to this knowledge in new industrial applications." And in fact ASG has contributed to some of the most advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment used in healthcare to study the human brain.

Andrés Felipe, Project Manager of Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción, explained that "by being part of ITER, a project which will test the energy of the future, we have been given the opportunity to demonstrate our know-how and in return acquire further expertise in engineering."

For Aitor Echeandia, CEO of Elytt, the commercial benefits have been concrete. "Because of our involvement in the manufacturing of ITER magnets, our SME has acquired further competences in superconducting technologies for fusion and particle accelerators."

SIMIC and CNIM have been involved in the production of the 70 radial plates of the magnet, the metallic structures that support the insulated conductor in their grooves before the structures are laser welded, wrapped with insulating material, and impregnated. Both companies have upgraded their facilities, employed people and trained them to deliver their share of components respecting a tight schedule.

Marianna Ginola, SIMIC Commercial Manager, explained that "we have managed to grow as a company and improve both in terms of project management and in technical aspects." According to Philippe Lazare, CEO of CNIM Industrial Systems Division, "in order to manufacture our share of ITER components we had to upgrade our industrial facilities, establish new working methods and train new talent. In return, we have become a French reference in high-precision manufacturing for large components."

The first magnet has been completed and will be transferred to SIMIC to perform a series of tests. Then, it will be inserted into a massive case, welded, impregnated by resin and machined using the most advanced technologies, special tooling and one of the largest machines in Europe. Each TF coil will weigh over 300 T and will be transported via sea from SIMIC to the site of the ITER project, Cadarache, France.

For Alessandro Bonito-Oliva, F4E Manager for Magnets, and his team, this has been an accomplishment of significant importance. "Thanks to our determination and the excellent collaboration between F4E and its partners we have completed the core of Europe's first Toroidal Field coil. This is the result of the good cooperation between the different parties of this one-of-a kind project and clear proof that when Europe wants to be a pioneer-Europe can!" he stated.

Since 2008, F4E has signed contracts reaching a value of approximately 5 billion EUR with various European companies and R&D organisations. Research in the field of fusion has successfully generated many scientific breakthroughs of high relevance to this project. Small and big economic operators have seen in ITER a range of business opportunities and benefits. They have increased their turnover, created jobs and gained confidence in an international business context.

Background
To view how the TF coils are being manufactured click here.
To view how SIMIC has produced its radial plates click here.
To view how CMIM has produced its radial plates click here.

Source: F4E