In order for humanity to survive, it needs to find a way to produce energy without harming the environment. The largest of the nuclear fusion reactors, one of the alternatives developed for this purpose, has been put into use in Japan. If this reactor is successful, future energy production could change greatly.
Nuclear reactions occur in two different ways. The first of these, and the model we see in disasters such as Chernobyl and Fukushima, is fission reactions. Here, the nuclei of radioactive elements are broken down to produce energy and energy is released. In fusion reactions, two atoms combine and are much safer. In the new power plant in Japan, hydrogen atoms will be combined to create a heavier element such as helium, and the resulting heat and light energy will be collected.
Is every reactor a fusion reactor?
This fusion, which we have seen before in China’s artificial sun project, has actually been the energy source of our planet for millions of years, and this is exactly the nuclear reaction that occurs in the Sun. Although fusion studies are currently in their infancy, it is an area with high expectations.
The reactor in Japan, called JT-60SA, aims to test the feasibility of fusion on a large scale. The reactor, which is as high as a 6-storey building, is loaded onto a donut-shaped ship in a hangar in the city of Naka, north of Tokyo. The reason for the strange shape of the ship is to be able to control the hot plasma, whose temperature can reach 360 million degrees.
Japan and the EU worked together
It was stated that while the EU and Japan worked together in the development of this fusion reactor, 70 companies and more than 500 scientists came together in the project. EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson stated that JT-60SA is the most advanced tokamak in the world, and described the start of the energy production process as an important milestone in the history of fission.
The purpose of JT-60SA is not to gain energy at the moment, but to reveal how we can obtain energy through fusion and to meet the ignition energy. It is stated in the research files of the reactor that using full capacity will bring the reactor to a balance position in terms of energy. The larger version, ITER, to be built in France, will be able to produce beyond this point.
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