ESG Telegraph
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Environment
  • Companies
  • Investors
  • Governance
  • Markets
  • Social
  • Regulators
  • Sustainable Finance
Featured Posts
    • Companies
    London’s ‘magic circle’ law firms make renewed bid to crack US
    • August 9, 2022
    • Markets
    Fed help isn’t coming | Financial Times
    • August 9, 2022
    • Latest News
    News Corp profits almost double as subscriptions drive post-pandemic recovery
    • August 9, 2022
    • Companies
    FirstFT: Rishi Sunak promises to ease cost of living crisis
    • August 9, 2022
    • Latest News
    Investors divided over how long Big Tech rally will last
    • August 9, 2022
Featured Categories
Belarussia
View Posts
Companies
View Posts
Energy
View Posts
Environment
View Posts
Food
View Posts
Governance
View Posts
Health
View Posts
Investors
View Posts
Latest News
View Posts
Markets
View Posts
Potash
View Posts
Regulators
View Posts
Russsia
View Posts
Social
View Posts
Supply Chain
View Posts
Sustainable Finance
View Posts
Technology
View Posts
Uncategorized
View Posts
ESG Telegraph ESG Telegraph
7K
9K
4K
1K
ESG Telegraph ESG Telegraph
  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Environment
  • Companies
  • Investors
  • Governance
  • Markets
  • Social
  • Regulators
  • Sustainable Finance
  • Latest News

European scientists make ‘landmark’ nuclear fusion breakthrough

  • February 9, 2022
  • Staff
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

Scientists in the UK have generated the biggest amount of energy from fusion in the latest breakthrough in the decades-long effort to generate clean, cheap power by harnessing the reaction that powers the sun.

The UK’s Atomic Energy Authority announced on Wednesday that a team of European researchers had produced 59 megajoules from a sustained reaction lasting five seconds — enough power to boil about 60 kettles — in an experiment at the Joint European Torus facility in Oxford, England.

“These landmark results have taken us a huge step closer to conquering one of the biggest scientific and engineering challenges of them all,” said Ian Chapman, chief executive of the UKAEA.

JET, a collaboration between EU member states, Switzerland, the UK and Ukraine, founded in 1978, is the world’s largest, most powerful operational “tokamak” machine. The design, pioneered by Soviet scientists in the 1950s, uses powerful magnets to hold a plasma of two hydrogen isotopes — deuterium and tritium — in place as it is heated to temperatures hotter than the sun so that the atomic nuclei fuse, releasing energy.

In half a century of experiments around the world scientists have failed to generate more energy from a fusion reaction than the power-intensive system consumes.

Arthur Turrell, a fusion expert, said the latest breakthrough, which more than doubles the previous energy output record of 22 megajoules, achieved by JET in 1997, was another significant step forward. “In terms of power its equivalent to about four wind turbines, that’s close to industrial scale,” said Turrell, whose book The Star Builders charts the multi-decade effort to achieve fusion energy.

Unlike nuclear fission when atoms are split, fusion does not produce significant radioactive waste. But the biggest challenge to make fusion commercial is how to sustain the reaction and prevent it from extinguishing.

Sustaining the power output for five seconds was therefore particularly significant, explained Turrell. “That might not sound that impressive but five seconds is an incredibly long time on nuclear timescales,” he said. “It suggests that the stability problem is under control which brings them a big step closer to fulfilling the full problem.”

Fusion energy has plenty of sceptics given how long it has taken to make any significant breakthrough but its promise as a way to fight climate change has increased interest over the past decade.

Fusion-power would emit no greenhouse gases and supplies of the chemical inputs are essentially inexhaustible. There are approximately 5g of deuterium in every bathtub of seawater and while tritium is less accessible it can be extracted from the commonly occurring metal lithium, or generated in the reaction itself. A small glass of fuel could theoretically power a house for hundreds of years.

While JET is one of several large, publicly funded fusion projects around the world, private sector money has also been flowing into fusion energy start-ups at record levels. Total private sector financing had reached more than $3bn by the end of 2021.

Turrell said the JET breakthrough should be good news for fusion start-ups, some of which are promising to deliver commercial power by the 2030s.

“This shows [private companies] that it is possible to do it and to keep the plasma stable,” he added. “With technologies, once you know something is possible, lots of people work out ways to get there.”

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
You May Also Like
Read More
  • Latest News

News Corp profits almost double as subscriptions drive post-pandemic recovery

  • Staff
  • August 9, 2022
Read More
  • Latest News

Investors divided over how long Big Tech rally will last

  • Staff
  • August 9, 2022
Read More
  • Latest News

Tech sector tax windfall shores up Ireland’s economy against recession

  • Staff
  • August 9, 2022
Read More
  • Latest News

Embattled Trump fans dig in at Michigan county fair

  • Staff
  • August 9, 2022
Read More
  • Latest News

Demography is not destiny | Financial Times

  • Staff
  • August 9, 2022
Read More
  • Latest News

Xi Jinping grasps ‘knife’ of internal security to complete grip on power

  • Staff
  • August 9, 2022
Read More
  • Latest News

Trump says FBI agents have raided his Mar-a-Lago residence

  • Staff
  • August 9, 2022
Read More
  • Latest News

Live news updates: Russia to suspend inspections of its nuclear weapons under treaty with US

  • Staff
  • August 8, 2022

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Featured Posts
  • 1
    London’s ‘magic circle’ law firms make renewed bid to crack US
    • August 9, 2022
  • 2
    Fed help isn’t coming | Financial Times
    • August 9, 2022
  • 3
    News Corp profits almost double as subscriptions drive post-pandemic recovery
    • August 9, 2022
  • 4
    FirstFT: Rishi Sunak promises to ease cost of living crisis
    • August 9, 2022
  • 5
    Investors divided over how long Big Tech rally will last
    • August 9, 2022
Recent Posts
  • First single-bond ETFs look set to revolutionise access to Treasuries
    • August 9, 2022
  • Tech sector tax windfall shores up Ireland’s economy against recession
    • August 9, 2022
  • We must regulate the exploitation of limited resources in space
    • August 9, 2022

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Subscribe now to our newsletter

ESG Telegraph
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Guest Post
  • Contact

Input your search keywords and press Enter.