Editor: Editorial Department
[Introduction to Xinzhiyuan] The LLNL laboratory in the United States has realized the net energy gain of nuclear fusion reaction for the first time, and the "artificial sun" may come true.
explosive news! For the first time in history, humans have achieved a net energy gain in nuclear fusion reactions.
net power gain, which is the ratio of the fusion power produced to the power used to heat the plasma .
From an experimental nuclear fusion reactor at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the fusion reaction produces more energy than is consumed in the process.
This means that human beings are one step closer to the goal of artificial sun.
Fossil fuels and traditional nuclear energy may withdraw from the stage of history!
Nuclear fusion reaction net energy gain, what does it mean
What exactly is "nuclear fusion"? Simply speaking,
is the process in which two light atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier atomic nucleus , and release huge energy.
We all know that everything grows on the sun, and the sun is the source of all life on earth, so where does the energy of the sun come from?
is nuclear fusion.
In this thermonuclear reaction, two hydrogen atoms collide and fuse to form a helium atom, which is slightly less massive than the original hydrogen atom.
Therefore, according to Einstein iconic E=mc² mass-energy equation , this mass difference will be converted into energy and burst out.
At the core of the sun, nuclear fusion of 620 million tons of hydrogen takes place every second. This kind of energy
enables us human beings to survive.
It is theoretically possible to generate a tera (trillion) joules of energy with just a few grams of a mixed reactant of deuterium (deuterium) and tritium (tritium), which is about what a person in a developed country would need in 60 years energy of.
Since nuclear fusion can produce such a large amount of energy, can we humans DIY this process and create an "artificial sun"?
Yes, scientists have been thinking that way for a long time.
Since mankind started the research on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, how to use the energy generated by nuclear fusion reaction under controllable conditions has always been the ultimate goal of mankind (the current nuclear power plant , the principle is nuclear fission reaction).
However, one of the biggest problems in using nuclear fusion is that the nuclear fusion process itself consumes a huge amount of energy. How to make the energy released by the nuclear fusion reaction greater than the input energy and make this process sustainable?
Since the 1950s, countless physicists have wanted to generate more energy from nuclear fusion reactions than they consume.
If this biggest problem is overcome, mankind will be able to obtain massive amounts of carbon-free clean energy for the first time in history, completely changing the future energy roadmap.
That is to say, by that time, there will be no more greenhouse gases produced by burning coal and oil, no more dangerous, long-lasting radioactive wastes—human beings will get “clean energy” in the true sense!
And now it seems that the first step of this puzzle has been solved.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has achieved a "net energy gain" from an experimental fusion reactor, allowing fusion reactions to produce more energy than that, according to the Financial Times . energy consumed in the process.
The reaction produced 120 percent of the energy consumed, according to sources, and at least two researchers confirmed the news."It's just a matter of time for most of us," a senior fusion scientist told the Washington Post.
The fusion reaction produced about 2.5 megajoules of energy, about 120% of the energy of 2.1 megajoules in the laser , the specific data is still under further analysis.
Spokespeople for the US Department of Energy and LLNL said they could not comment on the Financial Times report at this time, but US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said a "significant scientific breakthrough" would be announced later today. Dr. Arthur Turrell, an expert on
nuclear fusion, said, "If this result is finally confirmed, we will witness a historic moment."
All four recurrences failed, and human technology was locked by sophons?
In fact, previous scientists have witnessed this miracle.
In August 2021, LLNL announced a major breakthrough: a record-breaking generation of more than 10 trillion watts of high-energy fusion energy—although it lasted less than a second. After the
device amplifies and splits the initial photon pulse into 192 ultraviolet laser beams, it hits the target (packed with frozen deuterium and tritium) with an energy of about 1.9 megajoules in less than 4 billionths of a second, creating the Temperatures and pressures only seen in stars and thermonuclear bombs.
Faced with such a powerful pulse energy, the nucleus will release a series of particles due to nuclear fusion, and thus produce more fusion and more particles, thus forming a continuous fusion reaction .
By definition, a fusion reaction successfully "ignites" when it produces more energy than it expends.
In the test in August, the energy generated by the nuclear fusion reaction has accounted for 70% of the input energy, which can be said to be very close to ignition.
However, in the next 4 trials, the results were not replicated.
The one with the best effect only reached 50% of the energy produced in the experiment in August.
In this regard, the researchers analyzed that since they are currently near the critical point of fusion "ignition", small and accidental differences between different experiments will have a huge impact on the results.
It is not difficult to see from the failure of repeated experiments that researchers still cannot accurately understand, manipulate and predict such high-energy experiments for a long time.
even joked with his friend "Chloromethane": "I think human technology may really be locked up by sophons." Why is
replicating nuclear fusion so difficult?
Why is it so difficult for humans to reproduce nuclear fusion?
This starts with the conditions of nuclear fusion reactions.
Nuclear fusion reactions occur in a state of matter called a plasma.
Plasma is a high-temperature charged gas composed of positive ions and freely moving electrons, which has unique properties different from solids, liquids and gases.
From left to right: solid, liquid, gas, plasma
In order to achieve fusion, atomic nuclei need to collide with each other at extremely high temperatures of more than 10 million degrees Celsius, so that they can overcome the electric repulsion of each other.
Once the nuclei overcome this repulsion and come into very close proximity to each other, the nuclear attraction between them will outweigh the electrical repulsion, allowing them to fuse.
To do this, numerous nuclei must be confined in a small space to increase the chances of collisions.
In the sun, there is a huge gravitational force, and this gravitational force producesThe extreme pressure is creating the conditions for the occurrence of nuclear fusion.
Inside the sun, the hydrogen atoms are heated to a plasma state, the electrons no longer revolve around the protons, and then the released atomic nuclei fuse to form helium atoms and neutrons , releasing huge energy
However, there are particles in the sun that can induce nuclear fusion Huge gravitational force, but we humans do not have such natural conditions.
On Earth, fusion of deuterium and tritium would require temperatures in excess of 100 million degrees Celsius, intense pressures, and sufficient confinement to maintain the plasma and fusion reactions long enough.
Now, in our human experiments, we are very close to the conditions required for nuclear fusion reactors, but we still need to improve the confinement performance and the stability of the plasma.
Scientists from more than 50 countries are constantly experimenting with new materials and designing new technologies.
However, as we have seen above, many experiments have achieved fusion without net power gain.
And this breakthrough, does it mean that we will use pure clean energy ? Actually not.
First of all, even from the data alone, the 120% net increase in energy is still far from enough. According to scientists' estimates, if nuclear fusion technology is to be put into practical use, the energy output must be at least several times higher than the energy of the incoming laser.
Moreover, the laser efficiency of the NIF in this experiment is extremely low, that is to say, only a small part of the energy supplied to the laser in the experiment actually enters the laser beam, and actually participates in the reaction that stimulates nuclear fusion. Energy is wasted.
According to this conversion efficiency, even if future lasers (such as solid-state lasers) can further improve the conversion efficiency, it is still far away from 100% nuclear fusion applications.
But at least, we achieved one step from 0 to 1.
China's new generation of "artificial sun" has made progress again
Scientists in the United States are not the only ones building artificial suns.
As early as the 1950s, my country also started research on controlled nuclear fusion.
Unlike LLNL's "inertial confinement fusion" approach, most fusion research to date has used circular reactors called "tokamaks."
It works like this: Inside a reactor , hydrogen gas is heated to a temperature high enough that electrons are stripped from the hydrogen nuclei to form a plasma (positively charged nuclei and negatively charged cloud of electrons ). The magnetic field traps the plasma inside the torus-shaped device, fusing the atomic nuclei together, releasing energy in the form of neutrons that fly outward.
On December 4, 2020, a new generation of "artificial sun" independently designed and built by the Southwest Institute of Physics of China National Nuclear Corporation was completed and achieved its first discharge.
In October 2022, the related research will make another major progress—the plasma current of HL-2M will exceed 1 million amperes (1 megaamperes).
This not only created a new record for the operation of my country's controllable nuclear fusion device, but also marked that my country's nuclear fusion research and development has taken an important step forward from fusion ignition.
HL-2M is currently the largest tokamak device with the highest parameters in my country. The core parameter of
is the plasma current intensity, and a plasma current reaching 1 million amperes (1 megaamperes) is a necessary condition for the realization of fusion energy. In the future, the tokamak fusion reactor must operate stably at megaamperes.
This breakthrough means that the device can operate routinely at a plasma current exceeding 1 megaamperes in the future, which is of great significance to my country's independent design and operation of fusion reactors.
summarize
It is reported thatFor the major announcement of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) experiment, the U.S. Department of Energy is expected to broadcast live at 7:00 am Pacific time on Tuesday, which is around 23:00 Beijing time tonight.
Will human history be changed forever? See you in ten hours!
Reference:
https://www.ft.com/content/4b6f0fab-66ef-4e33-adec-cfc345589dc7
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-clean-solutions2/nufbrionus/2022/1 benefits/
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02022-1
https://www.163.com/dy/article/HF5BLDSD0511F2M4.html
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