Table of Contents
How does thermonuclear fusion create energy?
Thermonuclear fusion is the process that occurs when two atoms combine to make a larger atom, creating a whole lot of energy. Fusion already happens naturally in stars — including the sun — when intense pressure and heat fuse hydrogen atoms together, generating helium and energy.
How does a tokamak generate electricity?
Inside a tokamak, the energy produced through the fusion of atoms is absorbed as heat in the walls of the vessel. Just like a conventional power plant, a fusion power plant will use this heat to produce steam and then electricity by way of turbines and generators.
What is the fuel for a fusion reactor?
The current best bet for fusion reactors is deuterium-tritium fuel. This fuel reaches fusion conditions at lower temperatures compared to other elements and releases more energy than other fusion reactions. Deuterium and tritium are isotopes of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe.
How much energy does a fusion reactor produce?
At present, fusion devices produce more than ten megawatts of fusion power. ITER will be capable of producing 500 megawatts of fusion power.
How do you extract energy from a fusion reactor?
The basic idea in all three cases is that the energy becomes heat, and is extracted using turbines, just like in a fossil fuel burning power station. On a microscopic level the energy is released in the form of kinetic energy of the helium nucleus and the neutrons that are given off.
How does fusion produce more energy than it consumes?
Fusion only produces more energy than it consumes in small nuclei (in stars, Hydrogen & its isotopes fusing into Helium). Fusion releases the energy of the strong force (much stronger at short distances than the EM force) when the small pieces are captured and held into one nucleus.
How is energy converted from fusion power to electricity?
About eighty percent of the world’s electricity comes from steam turbines. Converting fusion power to electricity through this path requires several energy conversion steps. The kinetic energy of the fusion products is converted into heat when they strike and penetrate the walls of the reactor.
What is heat engine nuclear fusion power?
Nuclear fusion power creates very fast-moving electrically charged particles. This post is about the two major methods for converting the kinetic energy of these particles into useful electrical energy. One of them, heat engines, is a well-proven technology with well-understood operating guidelines and some limitations.
What happens to the kinetic energy in nuclear fusion?
The kinetic energy of the fusion products is converted into heat when they strike and penetrate the walls of the reactor. The shielding is designed to stop the particles, spreading out their kinetic energy so that it becomes the motion of many particles (heat). This process is nearly 100\% efficient.
What is thermonuclear fusion?
Thermonuclear fusion: When matter is heated to a high degree (similar to the plasma state of matter), fusion may take place as a result of collisions with high kinetic energy of the particles.