Engineers have managed to induce a nuclear fusion reaction in a reactor covered with tungsten, instead of the usual graphite. It was the most energetic reaction in such a reactor to date.
The reaction was generated in the Environment in Steady-state Tokamak (WEST), an experimental reactor in France. The plasma reached temperatures of around 50 million degrees Celsius. The response lasted more than six minutes. The results were confirmed by the American Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
Although longer and hotter reactions have previously been generated in fusion reactors, this is a record for a reactor covered on the inside with tungsten. Tungsten is a suitable material because, among other things, it has a very high melting point. The plasma was 15 percent more energetic than in the past and twice as dense. A total of 1.15 gigajoules were pumped into the reactor to maintain the reaction.
Still far away
One caveat is that no more energy was produced than was put into the reactor to maintain the reaction. What is important is that a tungsten reactor appears to be able to hold a more compact and energetic plasma than traditional designs.
If nuclear fusion is ever to be commercialized, ways must be found to make plasma as compact and energetic as possible. Only then can the temperature and pressure in a reactor be high enough to achieve net energy gains over long periods. Other experimental reactors that use tungsten instead of graphite also appear to show better results.
Largest reactor
It may take decades before nuclear fusion becomes commercially available. The experiments being conducted today are helping scientists get there. In the near future, the largest experimental reactor to date, ITER, will be opened in southern France. Tungsten is also used in that reactor.
ITER is expected to pave the way for commercial nuclear fusion by demonstrating that net energy can be extracted on a large scale.
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