Muchos pa\u00edses invierten grandes recursos para la obtenci\u00f3n de \u201cenerg\u00eda limpia\u201d, barata y eficiente, empleando el proceso de fusi\u00f3n nuclear. El presente art\u00edculo describe interesantes resultados obtenidos en reactores experimentales de Fusi\u00f3n, que utilizan como combustible \u201cHydrogen ice pellets\u201d en lugar del tradicional hidr\u00f3geno gaseoso.<\/p>\n
Scientists around the world are racing towards a green energy solution that is cheap, efficient, and scalable enough to replace fossil fuels before our carbon-based economy steers us past the tipping point towards catastrophic climate change. Solar cells are being improved at breakneck speed, wind turbines are being swiftly scaled up, and geothermal energy is being considered in more and more locations, but few projects are more buzzed about than those concerning the \u201csilver bullet\u201d and \u201choly grail\u201d energy solutions that are green hydrogen and nuclear fusion. Now, there\u2019s news of a breakthrough solution that involves both.<\/p>\n
The DIII-D National Fusion Facility, which is operated by General Atomics operates on behalf of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), has long been using hydrogen gas into their tokamak, the massive donut-shaped particle colliders used to create nuclear fusion. But now, a new study indicates that there might be a better way: the use of hydrogen ice pellets. \u201cThe studies by physicists based at DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) compared the two methods, looking ahead to the fueling that will be used in [International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor] ITER, the international fusion experiment under construction in France,\u201d reports Phys.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n A constant stream of hydrogen is needed to keep fusion reactors running, and the issue of how to do this the most efficiently and effectively is a question with major implications for the potential future of commercial nuclear fusion. This issue will become even more crucial, Phys.org points out, as these reactors continue to scale up, getting bigger and hotter, as we get closer to achieving said commercial nuclear fusion. \u201cAs fusion reactors get bigger and hotter it will become harder for the gas to penetrate into the core of the reactor where fusion reactions take place. New methods thus need to be developed to feed the fusion core without degrading the plasma performance.\u201d Enter hydrogen ice pellets.<\/p>\n The experiments comparing the traditional injection of room-temperature hydrogen gas with the employment of hydrogen ice pellets show that the latter, somewhat counterintuitively, is better for achieving the ultra-high temperatures needed to fuel the tokamak\u2019s hot inner core to achieve nuclear fusion. \u201cThe experiments revealed a significantly higher pressure of plasma\u2014a key to fusion reactions\u2014using hydrogen ice compared to gas injection when the rate of fueling is roughly evenly matched between the two methods,\u201d the report continues.<\/p>\n This breakthrough is just the latest in a number of recent discoveries that are bringing commercial nuclear fusion closer and closer to being a reality. Nuclear fusion is one of the most powerful forms of energy production known to man–it\u2019s what occurs naturally to power our sun and stars. Fusion is much cleaner than nuclear fission, the method used in conventional nuclear power production, because it only required hydrogen as fuel, not radioactive materials that leave radioactive waste that stays hazardous for tens of thousands of years, if not more. Fusion is also several times more powerful than fission. The problem is, while we have managed to create nuclear fusion reactions here on Earth, we haven\u2019t been able to do it efficiently, with experiments consuming more energy to make the reaction happen than the reaction itself creates in almost all cases.<\/p>\n But while commercial nuclear fusion is still out of reach, we\u2019ve gotten a whole lot closer in recent years. Last summer, ITER announced that they were, at the time, just six and a half years away from achieving first plasma<\/a> in their tokamak. Then, just a month later in August, 2019, Oak Ridge National Laboratory reported another breakthrough, which applies new implementation of AI and supercomputing<\/a> to successfully scale up nuclear fusion and manage plasma. In October of last year, the Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) announced<\/a> their very science-fiction combination of plasma guns, magnets, and lasers in a hybrid approach to fusion that will be up and running later this year. Just last month, Australian startup HB11 began snapping up patents<\/a> for their own laser approach to fusion.<\/p>\n Now, with the new discovery of a better hydrogen fuel source, commercial nuclear fusion is closer than ever, and the potential implications are impossible to overstate.<\/p>\n