According to the estimation of the current world energy consumption rate, nuclear fusion energy on the earth can be used for more than 10 billion years. In principle, fusion energy can become an inexhaustible carbon-free energy source. Therefore, nuclear fusion Has always been people's long-term dream.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a new research project worth 30 million U.S. dollars is brewing, and is committed to making nuclear fusion technology universal.
The project aims to establish the world's first truly fusion power station. The power of 200 MW of this power station will be comparable to most modern commercial power plants. According to reports, the construction of fusion power stations is rapid and low-risk and can be completed within 15 years. .
Figure nuclear fusion is seen as the ultimate energy source
Unlike usual, MIT chose to partner with a startup called Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to build such a power plant. Recently, the startup received 50 million U.S. dollars from Italian energy company Eni. Investment. The common goal of CFS and MIT is to quickly realize the commercialization of fusion energy and establish new industries.
The president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rafael Reif, is looking forward to this cooperation.
TU Master MIT L. Rafael Reif
'This is a historic moment: Advances in superconducting magnet technology have made fusions within reach, providing new possibilities for this kind of safe, non-carbon energy. The climate risks facing humanity are on the rise, and I am very happy that MIT can Industrial allies collaborate to advance the energy revolution at full speed for the future of mankind', he said.
There is no doubt about the impact and potential of fusion energy, but the question is: How do we achieve fusion energy?' said Robert Mumgaard, CFS CEO. 'The approach is to find the right combination of existing science and technology. Partner and then solve the problem step by step.'
From left to right: Martin Greenwald, Deputy Director of the MIT Center for Plasma Science and Fusion, Dan Brunnama, Chief Technology Officer, CFS, Zach Hartwig, Assistant Professor, School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, CFS Chief Scientific Officer Brandon Solbohm, CFO CEO Bob Mumgard, and PSFC Director Dennis White
Build the world's most powerful superconductive magnet
As we know, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple light nuclei (for example, helium and neon) combine to form a heavier nucleus (such as helium). The enormous energy generated by the sun is derived from the fusion reaction. If it can be realized once Controlled nuclear fusion will solve the long-standing human energy problem and will be completely resolved.
However, the fusion reaction produces net energy that requires extreme conditions of hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius, and any solid material cannot withstand this high temperature. The goal of MIT and CFS is to build a compact fusion device with a power of 100 megawatts.
Figure 丨CFS Team
One of the key steps is to build the most powerful superconducting magnet in the world. The superconducting magnet is also an important component of the compact fusion device Tokamak. The superconducting material used to make the superconducting magnet is coated with钇-钡-copper oxide (YBCO) composite strip.
The biggest advantage of YBCO materials is that it can greatly reduce the cost, time, and organizational complexity needed to build a net energy fusion device, thereby providing people with new ways to access fusion energy.
Professor White, the American engineering professor and director of the MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering, said that since magnets are the key technology for new types of fusion reactors, and the development of magnets has great uncertainty, the first two or three years of the project were aimed at electromagnets. the study.
'We believe that putting magnet research in the first place will give us a reliable answer within three years. We will also give us great confidence to move forward. Let us answer the most critical questions: Can we use magnetic field constraints? The plasma scheme gets net energy?' White said.
The effect of this kind of superconducting magnet is also very worthy of expectation. The magnetic field generated by this superconducting magnet will be 4 times the magnetic field of existing fusion equipment, which will increase the power of the same size Tokamak device by more than 10 times.
MIT and CFS are expected to complete the study of superconducting magnets within three years. At that time, they will use these superconducting magnets to design and construct a compact fusion experimental device, SPARC.
Diagram of the SPARC tokamak experimental device. SPARC uses a high-temperature superconductor to create a strong magnetic field, which is expected to be the first controllable plasma fusion reactor with net energy output.
Technology milestones that challenge fusion
Once the magnet technology is completed, the team's next task is to simply evolve the existing Tokamak experimental device.
Tokamak devices have been studied and refined for decades. SPARC is an evolution of tokamak devices. Among them, MIT began its research work in the 1970s, by Bruno Coppi and Ron. • Ron Parker led two professors. The strong magnetic field fusion device they studied has been in use at MIT and has created many records in the field of fusion science.
Currently, the design thermal power of the compact fusion experimental device SPARC is 100 megawatts. Although the thermal power cannot be fully converted to electrical power, it is sufficient to power a small city with a 10-second pulse. The output energy is the heating of the required plasma energy. Two times, it also achieves the technical milestone of fusion: net energy output.
It is not difficult to realize the nuclear fusion reaction, but the biggest problem with fusion reactors at present is that the input energy is greater than the output energy, which means that in order to achieve fusion, the energy consumed exceeds the energy released by the fusion reaction. This is a loss. process.
Based on SPARC, scientists will be able to build twice as large new-type nuclear power plants that can achieve net energy output in business and become the ultimate demonstration of commercial fusion reactor design and construction.
The other layer of the project is that it will become a supplementary study of the large-scale international cooperation project ITER.
Tutor International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Project
ITER is the world's largest fusion experimental facility and is currently being built in southern France. If it goes well, ITER is expected to output fusion energy by 2035. According to Hartwig, the output power of SPARC is 1/5 of ITER, but it's The size is 1/65 of ITER.
Energy market needs new cooperation model
For decades, under the government's support for fusion research, scientists have accumulated a lot of professional experience. Among them are MIT's research work from 1971 to 2016, namely Alcator C-Mod and other experimental studies.
It is also on the basis of these work that MIT chose to cooperate with a well-funded startup company to carry out research. White, Greenwald and Hartwich said that although fusion has made a great contribution to improving the environment, It takes time, but this collaborative research can greatly shorten the time for fusion technology to enter the market.
In the past, energy startups often required substantial research funding to bring new energy technologies to market. Traditional forms of early investment often run counter to the long-cycle and dense capital that energy investors are familiar with.
'Because of the special conditions needed to produce a fusion reaction, researchers must start research on a certain scale. Because of this, this academic-industrial partnership is necessary to ensure the rapid advancement of fusion technology. This is unlike the three engineers in the garage. It's so easy to build an app,' Greenwald said.
Most of the first round of investment made by CFS will be used to support the research of MIT's new superconducting magnets. Of course, the team is also confident that it can successfully develop magnets that meet the needs.
'But this is not to say that this is a simple job,' Greenwald added, it requires a lot of research staff to do a lot of work. Greenwald also pointed out that a team made a magnet with superconducting materials to study In other projects, the electromagnetic field is twice that required for fusion reactors. Although the size of this magnet is small, it confirms the feasibility of the superconducting magnet concept.
In addition to investing in CFS, Eni also announced cooperation with MITEI to support research projects in the PSFC fusion technology innovation laboratory. In the next few years, the total investment in these research projects will reach $2 million.
Greenwald said: 'Our strategy is to use a conservative physics approach based on research by institutions such as MIT. If SPARC achieves the desired goal, achieve net energy output on the scale of the actual power plant, it will be a fusion of Kitty Ho Kitty Hawk moment (Why did Kitty Hawk moment's first test flight to Kitty Hawk in North Carolina in 1903.)