In a bid to solve earth’s energy woes, scientists are contemplating building the world’s first “sustainable fusion” reactor by creating what they claim is a miniature star on our planet.
Fusion is the process by which atoms combine releasing large amounts of energy — it can produce the equivalent energy of 300 gallons petrol from just a gallon of seawater and fuel equivalent of two tons of coal from 50 cups of water.
Following a series of key experiments over the last few weeks, the £2.2-billion-project has inched a little closer to its goal of igniting a workable fusion reaction by 2012, the Daily Mail reported.
A team at the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California, has fired up the 192 lasers beams at the centre of the reactor and aimed them at glass target containing tritium and deuterium gas. The resulting release of energy was of a magnitude of 1.3 million mega joules, which was a world record and the peak radiation temperature measure at the core was approximately six million degrees Fahrenheit, say the scientists.
For a direct comparison, the temperature at the centre of the sun is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. The scientists estimate that a prototype power station version of the fusion reactor could be operational by 2020 and that by 2050, almost a quarter of the US energy could well be supplied by fusion power.
“The results of all of these experiments are extremely encouraging. They give us great confidence that we will be able to achieve ignition conditions in deuterium-tritium fusion targets,” NIF director Ed Moses was quoted as saying.
Added a spokesperson for the facility, “Fusion energy is very promising as a long-term future energy source, as the fuels required to generate it are relatively abundant on earth and the creation of energy is safe and environment friendly. Deuterium is extracted from seawater, and tritium is derived from the metal lithium, a common element in soil.
—PTI