This morning, the editor was shocked by a headline that claimed that the United States had achieved a revolutionary breakthrough in nuclear fusion research, and mankind was one step closer to the manufacture of ""little sun". I thought that China had realized a tokamak device in the field of nuclear computing The continuous test duration of more than 1000 seconds (continuous input power, amperage of 1 million amperes) has established a leading position in the world, why is it suddenly surpassed by Laomei? In fact, this is a misunderstanding. At the same time, I I believe that many people have the same first feeling as me, so today I will talk with you about some achievements of China and the United States in the field of nuclear fusion, and compare who is better? Of course, The final result may not be convincing to everyone, because China and the United States have actually taken two completely different theoretical paths in the field of nuclear fusion research. The two most important subjects of doing my part, and China's current experimental device for studying nuclear fusion is tokamak device and its corresponding research route, which is China's inheritance of the theoretical and practical route of nuclear fusion device research in the Soviet period ( It is referred to as magnetic confinement for short), while the United States, Japan and other countries have adopted the research route of using lasers to achieve beam confinement. According to the editor's careful research and comparison, the so-called revolutionary breakthrough announced by the United States and today is that he uses beam confinement Plasma achieves nuclear fusion and then obtains a laser power level of hundreds of terawatts. Of course, its running time is calculated at the level of one trillionth of a second (and this running time lasts for 1/1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 second) The energy of 2.5mj is generated, which is 120% of the input energy of 2.1MJ. Obviously, it is impossible to reach the scale of continuous operation of the tokamak device currently researched in China for more than 16 minutes.
But the most impressive achievement achieved by this experiment in the United States The exciting height is that it achieves energy gain, that is, the energy input by controlling laser beam to stimulate nuclear fusion is compared with the energy output after final nuclear fusion, and the latter is greater than the former. This is in the news released this time It means that it is an unprecedented breakthrough in nuclear fusion research. Relatively speaking, the tokamak device we have studied in China has made great progress in time operation so far, but the ratio of energy input to output has not yet reached 100. %, in other words, it means that no energy gain has been achieved. Therefore, from this perspective, the breakthrough of the United States can indeed be said to be a major revolutionary breakthrough in the history of human history in the history of nuclear fusion to achieve energy utilization. There is no doubt about this. .
Yet such a breakthrough Can it mean that nuclear fusion power generation is just around the corner as a new energy alternative for mankind? Obviously not. Because there are at least three key factors for controllable nuclear fusion : one is energy gain, the greater the energy gain here, the better, and take the news released by the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California, USA. In other words, the ratio is not high.
The earliest news before this is that on August 8, 2021, Rolls Lawrence Frimore Laboratory of the United States conducted a similar experiment through the National Ignition Experiment N|F, which also maintained 0,0,0 billion seconds 0,0,0 During the nuclear fusion time course, 1.3 million joules of energy were produced, which broke the world record at the time. In the NIF experiment in the United States, a powerful laser was used to irradiate a small target to achieve nuclear fusion. During this period, a fuel tank containing a mixture of deuterium and tritium with a diameter of 2 mm was irradiated by 192 laser beams, and the internal fuel exploded to release a large amount of energy. Fusion chain reaction.
In addition, in this experiment, the output energy exceeded the input energy, and the energy of the laser was equivalent to 70% of the output nuclear fusion energy.He said that even if such conditions are met, there is still a huge gap between the actual utilization of nuclear fusion energy, and the focus of the next step will be on the improvement of the shell of the fuel tank. If you go forward, in July 2013, 192 laser beams were successfully fused into a single pulse in the NIF experiment in the United States. According to the equipment, the energy of 1.8M J and 50 billion watts were finally generated on the deuterium-tritium fuel target. The peak power of the laser is achieved, and the energy released by the reaction is realized, that is, the output energy exceeds the energy of the laser, but only exceeds 1.
Nuclear fusion, as an output method of energy release and utilization, has the advantages of being clean and pollution-free, and will not release carbon dioxide greenhouse gas that is difficult to fission for a long time , and will not release like nuclear The decomposed nuclear pollution waste has high safety, that is to say, even if there is an error or problem in any link, the power generation process will stop immediately because of the error or omission of a certain link, so that the discharge conditions are not met, so as to ensure the absolute safety of the process device , which is the exact opposite of nuclear fission.
China's tokmak device uses magnetic confinement plasma nuclear fusion, as the name implies, it uses a magnetic field to confine the deuterium-tritium plasma at extremely high temperature, so that the deuterium and deuterium contained in it will undergo fusion, but the This kind of device is subject to many technical constraints and is very difficult, and it is also far away from practical application. But the Chinese have never lacked the courage to innovate and the wisdom to be the first.
In the second half of this year, an academician surnamed Peng, who studies nuclear fission and fusion in China, once said that a combination of nuclear fission and fusion technology ( F reactor ) In fact, the threshold for nuclear fusion is greatly reduced, and the principle is simpler. At the same time, compared with the tokamak element, its volume will also be greatly reduced) and fission value-added (subcritical reactor uses uranium 235 as the main raw material, auxiliary U238) piles are mixed, which can solve this technical problem, can significantly reduce the power required by the fusion center of nuclear fusion reactors, and provide neutron value-added for 95% of nuclear fission materials with 5% of nuclear fusion materials.
The most subtle thing is that through this pile type, nuclear fission waste can be turned into treasure and reused, thereby achieving the same significant reduction or avoiding the greatest harm caused by nuclear waste . The electric pulse magnetic pressure driver Yijing is in the planning and construction stage, and is expected to be successfully constructed in Chengdu in 2025. After completion, it can generate 50 million amperes of current, which is twice that of similar electric devices in Arizona, USA. It is also the most critical equipment in the Z-ffR hybrid reactor that is expected to be built in 2028. In terms of long-term commercial application, it may not be until 2035, but it is foreseeable that this is still the world's first nuclear reactor. Fusion commercial operation project. What supports this judgment is that on September 16, 2022 this year, an article published by China South China Morning Post shows that my country has approved the construction of the world's largest pulse driver and put it into commercial use for the realization of nuclear fusion grid-connected power generation in 2028. Apply for adequate preparation.
Of course, some netizens even said that my country’s Xinhui in Guangdong Province is also developing a nuclear fusion device that is similar to American laser technology and restrains inertia. The two major research forces just need to wait patiently for a while. After all, we have achieved a great breakthrough in the development of the tokmak device, and we are far ahead in the forefront of the world, so at this time we have absolutely no need nervous, as long as we follow the laws of science, self-pressurization, and strive to achieve a breakthrough, one day we can join hands with all mankind on the road to conquer nuclear fusion and realize new breakthroughs in nuclear energy utilization, achieve real transcendence, benefit all mankind, and provide continuous clean, safe and reliable for all mankind At that time, human beings will no longer need to have differences because of the competition for resources such as oil and natural gas!
In this mode, if the mixed reactor is out of control, the Z-pinch nuclear fusion will also shut down, and the high-energy neutrons provided by fission will reduce lipid pairing, and after disappearing, the fission will gradually stop, so there is no The risk of thermal runaway ensures the safety of the subcritical reactor, and the requirements for thermal power are not high. Its cost is basically 21 billion yuan for the transformation and fusion reactor with a capacity of 1 million kWh.
On January 28, 2016, China’s EAST nuclear fusion device using magnetic confinement achieved an ultra-high temperature long-pulse plasma discharge with an electron temperature of over 5000 degrees and a duration of 102 seconds. On November 2 of the same year, the duration was extended To more than one minute, on December 30, 2021, the time will be continuously discharged, and the time will be extended to 1056 seconds, which is the world's first continuous discharge time record breaking 1000, and continues to maintain the world's leading position. Therefore, 9 countries in the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, China, South Korea, India, etc., and even , the European Union, and are all maintaining a state of quiet and fierce competition in this long-distance race about nuclear fusion. , Formed a state of fierce competition, whoever breaks through first can take the lead in the future revolution in the energy field, and the patents he has mastered can achieve more discourse power, and even control the lifeline of future energy to dominate the world structure.
Although the realization of net energy gain by nuclear fusion is a major success in the history of science, there is still a long way to go before it can provide useful energy, especially the 120% energy gain proposed by the United States this time. The world has already happened in 2013 and 2021, so whether this news is nuclear fusion in human history or not, the major breakthrough and revolutionary progress has yet to be further confirmed. At the same time, China is at the advanced level in the world. In addition, our neighbor South Korea is also very prominent in this area, and is at the forefront of the world. For example, in 2020, the Korean superconducting tokamak advanced research device ks ta2 The running time of 20 seconds was maintained at 100 million degrees Celsius, which also caused a sensation in the world. In addition, Japan’s research investment in this field is also very huge. In addition, European countries such as the United Kingdom, and China’s participation in the iter nuclear fusion test device jointly built by the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea, India and other countries are examples of the world It is a huge project carried out by the research force of an important country. China has achieved many breakthroughs and created many firsts in the process of participating in it. It has played a leading role in nuclear fusion research. All this shows that we are not inferior to the United States in the field of nuclear fusion research. Even ahead.