Since the
1950s, scientists have been hard at work in finding ways to produce stable
nuclear energy through fusion. We've learned much from all the experiments done
in nuclear fusion reactors all over the world. LPP Fusion thinks there's
another way.
GUIDING
INSTABILITY
Solar energy
is revolutionizing how we power houses, cities, and even cars. The energy we
get from the Sun, however, is just a tiny fraction of what actually powers the
solar system’s star. Enter nuclear fusion, which for the longest time now, has
been rather difficult to stabilize. A nuclear fusion startup based in New
Jersey called LPP Fusion thinks we might have been going about this process the
wrong way, and they suggest a different approach.
To harness
nuclear fusion energy, one needs to stabilize the reaction, which in itself is
already difficult to produce. Fusion relies on hot plasma, which requires huge
amounts of pressure and very high temperatures. On method scientists have
devised is called “magnetic confinement” — where hot plasma is contained using
magnetic fields.
Still, the
method isn’t without great difficulties. “Guide the plasma’s instability; don’t
fight it,” LPP Fusion president and CEO Eric Lerner told the Digital Journal.
To do this, their scientists are developing a Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) device.
THE QUEST
FOR CLEAN ENERGY
Encased in a
ring of cathodes, the DPF’s hollow central anodes use electromagnetic
acceleration and compression to produce short-lived plasma that’s hot and dense
enough to produce nuclear fusion. Simply put, the DPF produces a reaction
that’s enough to generate a tiny dense plasma ball called plasmoids, which
sustain nuclear fusion using self-generated electron beams. The concept works
in theory, and LPP Fusion scientists have submitted their research to the
journal Physics of Plasmas for peer review.
LPP Fusion’s
method is one amid a number of research endeavors focused on stabilizing this
“holy grail” of renewable energy. Among these, a team from MIT is working on
adding an extra ion to the usual two-ion plasma mix, while nuclear fusion
company Tri-Alpha Energy has recruited Google’s Optometrist algorithm to figure
out a solution.
Compared to
its fission cousin, nuclear fusion is a cleaner and truly renewable source of
almost unlimited energy. For reference, a single fission event generates around
200 MeV of energy, or about 3.2 x (10^-11) watt-seconds, and nuclear fusion can
produce four times that. Understandably, scientists have long since pursued
nuclear fusion. Today, as renewable energy becomes the norm, scientists are
even more keen on controlling nuclear fusion, which some suggest could replace
fossil fuels by 2030.
References:
Digital journal, LPP Fusion
Via Futurism.
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