SAINT-PAUL-LES-DURANCE, France (AP) – Teams of scientists on two continents have achieved similar milestones in their efforts to achieve a source of energy that will be crucial to the fight against climate change: they have truly created magnets awesome.
On Thursday, scientists at the Experimental Thermonuclear Reactor (ITER) in the south of France received the first component of a magnet so powerful that according to its American manufacturer it is capable of raising an aircraft carrier.
With a height of nearly 20 meters (60 feet) and a diameter of four meters (14 feet) at the remaining coupling, the Imam is a crucial component in the attempt of 35 nations to dominate nuclear fusion.
For their part, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced that they too had achieved a milestone by successfully testing the most powerful high-temperature superconducting magnet in the world. world that would allow them to outperform ITER in the race to make a “sun on Earth.”
Unlike existing fission reactors that produce radioactive waste and sometimes suffer catastrophic fusions, proponents of the new technology say it offers a virtually unlimited source of clean energy. But for that you have to know how to take advantage of it, a problem that they have been trying to solve for almost a century.
Instead of splitting atoms, fusion mimics a natural process of stars that joins two hydrogen atoms to produce one helium and thus a large amount of energy.
Fusion requires heat and pressure to unimaginable degrees. One way to achieve this is to transform hydrogen into electrically charged gas, called plasma, which is then controlled in a donut-shaped vacuum chamber.
This is done with the help of powerful superconducting magnets such as the “central solenoid” that General Atomics began transporting from San Diego, California, to France a few months ago.
Scientists say ITER is 75% finished. Its intention is to ignite the reactor in early 2026 with the ultimate goal of producing more energy than required to heat the plasma and demonstrate that fusion technology is viable.
Among those hoping to win the game is the team in Massachusetts, which claims to have created a magnetic field twice that of ITER with a magnet 40 times smaller.
Scientists at MIT and Commonwealth Fusion Systems say its device would be ready for everyday use in the early next decade.
“We designed this for commercial use,” MIT vice president Maria Zuber, a prominent physicist, said. “We didn’t design it to do a science experiment.”
Although not designed to produce electricity, ITER would serve as a model for similar, albeit more sophisticated, reactors if it achieves its purpose.
According to the project promoters, even if this fails, the participating countries will master technical skills applicable to other fields, from particle physics to the design of materials capable of withstanding the heat of the sun.