On December 1, Japan unveiled JT-60SA, the world’s largest operational superconducting tokamak to date. Tokamak is the name given to the nuclear fusion reactor, which is in the shape of a round hollow center, and this new structure, built in Japan with the support of the European Union (EU), is the name given to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which is currently being built in France and is expected to be opened in a few years. ) is intended to be a pioneer.
This nuclear fusion reactor aims to demonstrate that the design can produce a clear amount of energy. For such a reactor to be meaningful, more energy must be produced than is expended. Nuclear fusion, which is also the source of the power of stars, has the potential to release enormous amounts of clean, carbon-free energy. However, a serious energy investment is required to recreate the conditions that occur inside stars. The difficult calculation that is why we stated that the result should produce more energy emerges at this point.
A different setup from the tokamak, called inertial confinement fusion, turned in net profits last year, but still wasn’t enough to be commercially viable. This tokamak heats the plasma held in a strong magnetic field to 200 million degrees Celsius by passing currents of 1 million amperes through it.
Researchers hope that scaling up will allow them to extract more and more energy. That’s why ITER is designed to be larger, burn plasma first, and be able to achieve full fusion by 2035. JT-60SA will inform the next steps in reactor approaches and is already showing promise. The first circulation of plasma passing through much lower currents was demonstrated in October.
In his speech at the opening, Fusion for Energy director Marc Lachaise said, “What happens here today will be important tomorrow in terms of fusion’s contribution to a carbon-free energy mix. “JT-60SA is key to the international fusion roadmap because it provides a first-of-its-kind facility to learn and operate this unique fusion device and share this valuable knowledge with ITER,” he said.
Fusion for Energy represents the EU’s contribution to ITER. The thirty-five countries that make up ITER include the entire EU, as well as Switzerland, the United Kingdom, India, Japan, Russia, China and the United States. ITER is being built in the south of France and is expected to create the first fusion plasma in 2025.
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