What is nuclear fusion?
Nuclear fusion is the process of forcing together two light atomic nuclei and creating a heavier one, in the process taking a tiny amount of matter and turning it into massive amounts of energy.
It is nuclear fusion that supplies the stars — including the sun — with their energy, allowing them to generate light. The vast majority of energy that Earth receives comes from the sun, and without it, life itself on our planet would be impossible.
This energy is directed at our planet from what can loosely be described as our star's surface, the photosphere. This layer of the ball of superheated plasma we call the sun is heated by the star's core, where the majority of nuclear fusion takes place.
This source of energy is so ubiquitous and so vital here on Earth, that it's little wonder that physicists are desperate to emulate it in reactors on our planet. A future powered by fusion could mean humanity's growing power needs are met by clean and highly efficient fusion energy.
How does Plasma Help Fusion
Plasma is created by giving atoms or molecules enough energy to lose electrons. This high kinetic energy allows the atoms to overcome the Coulomb barrier produced by the protons of each nucleus.
To achieve fusion in a laboratory, three conditions must be met:
Very high temperature: To provoke high-energy collisions
Sufficient plasma particle density: To increase the likelihood of collisions
Sufficient confinement time: To hold the plasma, which has a tendency to expand
Researchers use electric and magnetic fields to control the resulting collection of ions and electrons because they have electrical charges.
Fusion Reactor
Based on confinement we can separate these reactors into two types:
Magnetic Confinement: Here, the hot plasma is checked from touching the walls of the confining material by the use of magnetic fields. The temperatures achieved are extremely high, and therefore they are kept from touching material.
Inertial Confinement: Here, the high energy density is put into a small pellet of reactors fusing them in such a short span that they don’t have the time to touch the confining material.
Vacuum vessel: It is used to hold the plasma and to keep the reaction chamber in a vacuum.
Neutral beam injector: It is used to inject particle beams from the accelerator into the plasma in order to heat the plasma to its critical temperature.
Magnetic field coils: Using magnetic fields, the plasma is confined in the superconducting magnets.
Central solenoid: It is used to provide electricity to the magnetic field coils.
Cooling equipment: It is used to cool down the magnets. Blanket modules: These are used to absorb heat and high-energy neutrons from the fusion reaction. Diverters: Used to exhaust the helium products.