A world record for nuclear fusion is broken after an 'artificial sun' reactor could keep a plasma for more than 22 minutes.
The West reactor, in South France, is at the forefront of attempts to produce huge amounts of energy from the nuclear reaction when two atoms merge.
But in the future to have the hope of raising the houses of the world, the reaction must be for a long time to continue to express energy.
Now, by breaking the 20 minutes, the West reactor has taken a step to run longer – one of the three 'golden circumstances' to achieve nuclear merger.
Plasma is made when the two fuels used in the reactor, deuterium and tritium are heated to more than 50 million degrees Celsius.
It is the 'fourth condition' after a material runs through the stages of fixed, liquid and gas, and it takes the super -a -glowing center of a special reactor to achieve this.
Plasma must be maintained in the reactor room, without spreading, cooling and returning to gas form.
The West reactor prevents plasma from escaping by using magnetic fields to limit it in one place.
The West Reactor, in South France, destroyed the world record of nuclear merger after the reactor was able to maintain (depicted) a plasma loop for more than 22 minutes.
The West reactor (depicted) prevents plasma from escaping by using magnetic fields to limit it in one place with a design called a Tokomak
By breaking the 20 minutes, the West reactor has set for longer in the direction of running – one of the three 'golden circumstances' to achieve nuclear merger. Shown: West Scientists celebrate it in the controllroom after beating the record
The 22 -minute performance for the reactor, which is called a magnetic locking reactor and limits plasma in a donut shape with the help of a machine called a tokamak, is impressive because, as recently as two years ago, plasma only in this kind of this Type was maintained reactor for less than seven minutes.
The new record exceeds a few weeks ago by 25 percent the previous record time that was reached by China's experimental Super Conditioning Tokamak (East).
Anne-Isabelle Etienvre, director of fundamental research at the French alternative energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), said: 'West has reached a new important technological milestone by maintaining hydrogen plasma for more than twenty minutes by injection of 2 MW heating electricity.
“Experiments will continue with an increased current.”
Nuclear merger is seen by some experts as the preference above nuclear splitting, which is currently being used to feed the planet alongside fossil fuels and renewable power.
This is because nuclear fission splits heavy atoms such as uranium or plutonium to create energy, so that potentially dangerous radioactive waste must be stored.
Nuclear merger creates energy by bringing atoms together, instead of splitting them, and produces less long -term waste, making it a relatively clean form of energy.
It usually only requires two fuels called Deuterium and Tritium, which are hydrogen isotopes.
The new record is larger than 25 percent, the previous record time achieved by the experimental advanced superconducting Tokamak (East) of China, a few weeks ago
If nuclear merger experiments can be used on a much larger scale, reactors will offer unlimited clean energy than anything else in the solar system. But to make that work, the plasma must be maintained in the reactor room, without spreading, cooling and returning to gas form
Fusion Power works by clashing heavy hydrogen atoms to form helium – releasing enormous amounts of energy in the process, as occurs naturally in the middle of the stars
There are considerable technical challenges for nuclear merger, including how to lower the costs, use the energy produced, by leading a turbine and getting them in the national schedule.
But the time that plasma can be maintained in a reactor is an essential part of getting nuclear reaction from the land.
It is one of the three golden conditions of nuclear fusion, along with a sufficiently high sufficient temperature and the correct density of plasma.
It is also important to prevent plasma from escaping because sharing the reactor can damage.
The West reactor is described as an 'artificial sun' because it replicates the nuclear reaction in the sun.
How a fusion reactor works
The merger is the process through which a gas is heated and separated into its component ions and electrons.
These are light elements, such as hydrogen, that merge to form heavier elements, such as helium.
In order for merger to occur, hydrogen atoms are placed on high heat and pressure until they merge.
The Tokamak (the impression of the artist) is the most developed magnetic locking system and forms the basis for the design of many modern merger reactors. The purple in the middle of the diagram shows the plasma in it
When Deuterium and Tritium cores – which can be found in hydrogen, they form a helium core, a neutron and lots of energy.
This is done by heating the fuel to temperatures of more than 150 million ° C and a hot plasma, a gaseous soup of subatomical particles.
Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls of the reactor, so that it does not cool down and loses its energy potential.
These fields are produced by super -conducting coils around the ship and by an electric current driven by the plasma.
For energy production, plasma must be locked up for a sufficiently long period to make merger occur.
When ions get hot enough, they can overcome and collide their mutual rejection.
When this happens, they release about a million times more energy than a chemical reaction and three to four times more than a conventional nuclear splitting reactor.
