Super-powerful magnet in the largest fusion reactor: what went wrong?

In France, construction of the world's largest and most powerful thermonuclear reactor has been completed. ITER (International Thermonuclear Energy Project) was the result of cooperation between 35 countries, including all EU countries, as well as the USA, Russia, China and India. Initially, it was planned to begin testing this tokmok back in 2020, but construction was delayed until 2024. But the saddest thing is that the launch of the reactor has been postponed until at least 2039. It is quite possible that this will happen even later.

A super-powerful magnet in the largest fusion reactor: what went wrong? Construction of the ITER fusion reactor in 2020. Photo source: jutarnji.hr. Photo.

Construction of the ITER thermonuclear reactor in 2020. Photo source: jutarnji.hr

Contents

  • 1 Thermonuclear fusion and the Tokmak reactor
  • 2 ITER & #8212; the world's largest thermonuclear reactor
  • 3 Why the launch of ITER was postponed for 15 years
  • 4 Why the ITER thermonuclear reactor is important for all humanity

Thermonuclear fusion and the Tokmak reactor

Thermonuclear reaction is found everywhere in the universe, or rather — in all stars, including the Sun. Through this reaction, they convert matter into light and heat, generating enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, during this reaction no greenhouse gases or radioactive waste are generated.

Therefore, scientists have been trying to recreate the thermonuclear reaction under terrestrial conditions for the last 70 years. In 1958, Soviet scientist Nathan Yavlinsky designed the first tokamak-type fusion reactor. To operate it, a plasma consisting of positive ions and negatively charged free electrons is first produced, and then enclosed in a donut-shaped reactor chamber that has a powerful magnetic field. As a result, thermonuclear fusion occurs, accompanied by the release of a large amount of energy.

Thermonuclear fusion and the Tokmak reactor. The Tokmak-type fusion reactor was invented by a Soviet scientist in 1958. Photo source: spacegid.com. Photo.

The Tokmok-type fusion reactor was invented by a Soviet scientist in 1958. Photo source: spacegid.com

But the creation of a thermonuclear reactor did not lead scientists to success – for many decades no one managed to get more energy from thermonuclear fusion than was spent on it. At some point, scientists even began to believe that under terrestrial conditions it was impossible to use thermonuclear fusion to produce clean energy. However, in recent years, significant progress has been achieved.

In 2022, scientists managed to obtain clean energy for the first time. Then several more significant achievements were made. The year 2024 was especially productive in this regard, as two serious records were set at once – in South Korea they obtained plasma 7 times hotter than the Sun, and in the UK scientists achieved the largest amount of clean energy in history.

Thermonuclear fusion and the Tokmak reactor. In 2022, scientists for the first time managed to obtain clean energy as a result of thermonuclear fusion. Photo source: dzen.ru. Photo.

In 2022, scientists for the first time managed to obtain clean energy as a result of thermonuclear fusion. Photo source: dzen.ru

Therefore, in recent years there has been hope that nuclear fusion could be used on an industrial scale to generate electricity in an environmentally friendly way. To do this, scientists had to use all previously acquired knowledge in the experimental thermonuclear reactor ITER. However, now this prospect is postponed indefinitely.

ITER — The world's largest fusion reactor

ITER has the most powerful magnet on Earth at present. It is 280 thousand times more powerful than the magnet of our planet, which creates a magnetic field. Tokmak contains 19 massive coils connected into several toroidal magnets that hold the plasma.

ITER is the world's largest thermonuclear reactor. ITER is the most powerful thermonuclear reactor in the world. Photo source: hightech.fm. Photo.

ITER is the most powerful thermonuclear reactor in the world. Photo source: hightech.fm

It should be said that before the completion of the construction of ITER, the largest and most powerful thermonuclear reactor was the JT-60SA, built in Japan. It was opened quite recently – at the end of 2023. According to the plan, the experience of using this tokmak should help scientists in testing ITER.

Why the launch of ITER has been delayed for 15 years

The construction of the new thermonuclear reactor has not only gone over time, but also exceeded the planned budget several times. Instead of 5 billion US dollars, its budget was 28 billion dollars. Of this, more than 22 billion have already been spent. That is, only 5 billion remain, but they are reserved for an unforeseen period.

That is, in fact, there is no money left to launch a new tokmok. This was the reason why the launch of ITER at full power with all 19 coils in use had to be postponed for 15 years.

Why the launch of ITER was postponed for 15 years. ITER turned out to be too expensive, so there is no money for its launch. Photo source: ria.ru. Photo.

ITER turned out to be too expensive, so there is no money to launch it. Photo source: ria.ru

Why the ITER thermonuclear reactor is important for all humanity

ITER should be the last step towards the industrial use of thermonuclear energy. That is, all countries that participated in the project will subsequently be able to use the developments and knowledge gained to build their own thermonuclear reactors.

The transition to thermonuclear energy should solve the problem of the climate crisis by sharply reducing the amount of emissions. Therefore, a delay of 15 years is a major concern among scientists. In their opinion, thermonuclear energy will now not be able to solve the climate crisis in time.

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Taking into account all of the above, it is hardly worth counting on the emergence of thermonuclear energy in the next 20-30 years. Therefore, many countries have recently been actively developing green energy. For example, China recently opened its largest solar power plant. It is capable of fully providing electricity to a small country.


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