by Chiara Mariani and Stefano Montefiori
It will take five years to build tokamak, the fusion reactor invented by Russian physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov in the 1950s. This is the scientific discovery that Stephen Hawking had hoped for more than any other
“I want nuclear fusion to become a reality. It would be an inexhaustible source of energy, without pollution and global warming ». So, in 2010, Stephen Hawking answered when Time asked him what the most shocking scientific discovery he wanted to see was. On the hills near Vinon-sur-Verdon in Provence, 35 countries (including Italy, cghe is also developing part of the project in Padua) responsible for 85% of global GDP have joined forces to launch the next 15 years to complete ITER. the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.
PROVENCE IS THE LOCATION OF THE PROJECT FOR A REVOLUTIONARY NUCLEAR FUSION PLANT DESIRED BY 35 COUNTRIES. JOURNEY TO THE LAB THAT REPRESENTS THE STARS: WITH ONE GRAM OF HYDROGEN ENERGY FOR 8 TONS OF OIL
Construction of the tokamak, or fusion reactor, invented by Russian physicists Igor Tamm and Andrei Sakharov in the 1950s, began last summer and will take another five years. It will be at the heart of the project, which aims to reproduce and control nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes (similar to that in the sun). ITER is an experimental reactor designed to verify over ten years that the method works and that a power plant can be built on the basis of these scientific principles. (read on for photos and links)
The current nuclear fission reactors have been included in the EU’s list of privileged energy sources in the energy transition, and 35 years after the nuclear no referendum, Italy still has no plants on its territory. On the other hand, there are no fusion power plants yet, but they promise – in the medium to long term – an eternal source of energy. The construction of the tokamak in Provence started in 2020 and when it is hopefully completed in 2026 it will be the largest in the world (30 meters high and 30 meters in diameter). The current nuclear fission reactors, which, for example, supply France with around 70 percent of its energy needs, are based on the splitting of the atomic nuclei of uranium or plutonium by colliding with a neutron.
Five Seconds of Hope at Oxford
A few months ago, at the beginning of February, encouragement came from England, where the world’s currently largest fusion reactor is located near Oxford. Scientists at the Joint European Torus (Jet) managed to generate 59 megajoules of energy, doubling the previous record set in 1997. According to the UK Atomic Energy Agency, “This result is the world’s clearest demonstration of the potential of fusion to deliver energy stably”. The generation of energy by fusion took five seconds – it may seem like a negligible time, but the theoretical validity of fusion is being demonstrated in reality, and with larger and more efficient machines like the future Iter, the same process could take five minutes, then five hours and so forth. The European Union believes in the project and has provided 6.6 billion, but there is no lack of helplessness. In fact, the question of supply remains crucial: 5% of the world’s uranium reserves are in Russia; 3% are located in Ukraine.
November 6, 2022 (Change November 6, 2022 | 08:18)
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