According to scientists, the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) project will yield a new, safe, environmentally friendly source of energy, using the almost inexhaustible reserves of the fuel, one gramme of which could replace at least ten tonnes of hydrocarbons.
In the summer of 2020, the leaders of the states involved in the project started the construction of the future reactor’s main element, a tokamak, a plasma confinement and heating system.
The World of Thermonuclear Energy
Thermonuclear reactions can release of tremendous energy, but the plasma where these reactions take place has a temperature of tens and hundreds of millions of degrees, while the most heat-resistant materials can withstand no more than 3-4,000 degrees.
The scientists explained that using thermonuclear energy is possible if the plasma is “torn off” from the reactor walls with strong magnetic fields. The best magnetic trap for thermonuclear plasma, the tokamak, was proposed by Soviet academicians Sakharov and Tamm in the early 1950s and was first created at the Kurchatov Institute.
In a thermonuclear reactor, unlike an atomic one, instead of nuclear fission, nuclear fusion takes place at a plasma density one hundred thousand times less than air density. The scientists stressed that this makes explosions impossible, making the reactor fundamentally safe. The products of such a reactor will be harmless helium and tritium, which is then used to support the reaction.
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