2. Currently Deuterium-tritium fuel is being
utilized in the test reactors for nuclear fusion.
The chemistry make up for the reaction
currently utilized in test reactors looks like this
3.
4.
5. There are a few different ways to go about creating
reactors that are needed for nuclear fusion.
For fusion to occur, reactor temperatures would have
to be on the order of 200 million degrees Celsius
No material on earth can withstand 200 million degrees
without melting
Two basic strategies:
1) Magnetic Confinement: Confine the plasma with
magnetic fields so that the plasma will not touch the
containment walls
2) Inertial Confinement: Supply large amounts of
energy very quickly (i.e. shoot with lasers) so that the
fuel is burned before it has time to expand and touch
the walls
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11. Nuclear fusion Utilizing Hydrogen Boron fuel
is the way of the future.
No carbon dioxide emitted to the plant
No radioactive waste that needs to be disposed of
No toxic gas produced from tritium
Editor's Notes
Nuclear fusion has been around for a long time in the aspect of new technology. Yet there has been little progress with creating a commercial power plant utilizing this technology. The source of fuel that is currently being utilized by the government for testing is deuterium-tritium fuel. This is a great fuel as it is readily abundant and the half life of the radioactive by products is much less than that of the fission counterpart. However, there is a fuel out there that can be developed for use in the nuclear fusion reactor that does not have neutron bombardment and therefore does not generate radioactive material, hydrogen-boron. This type of fuel is the way of the future as you will see on the next few slides.
Nuclear fusion is: a reaction in which two nuclei combine to form a nucleus with the release of energy Sometimes shortened to fusion
The discovery of deuterium –tritium fuel is a great discovery, reducing the half life of the radioactive waste that is produced down to 100 years! This is a huge advantage over the nuclear fission half life that we currently have.
As we can see in this diagram the deuterium and tritium light weight atoms form a new element and emit a neutron. This neutron interacts with the elements around it creating radioactive by products of this fusion and therefore radioactive waste that is harmful to the environment and the people around it.
There is another fuel source that is out there now, and unfortunately it is not a recent discovery. This fuel source has been put on the back burner in order for governments to minimize the amount of money that is lost from studying a technology that seems to have a wide array of paths in which it can be traveled. During the hydrogen boron reaction the hydrogen and the boron are stripped of their electrons exposing their nuclei which is why the hydrogen is depicted as the p. These two atoms are accelerated at a high rate of speed in order to get them to smash into each other. They both are positively charged and therefore the high rate of speed is necessary to overcome the repulsion. It produces three helium atoms and converts the mass that is lost in the reaction to energy. There is approximately 0.0000000000015 Joules of energy per reaction.
Now this amount of energy doesn’t sound like much so let’s put it into perspective. As we can see in the diagram above two teaspoons of boron in a hydrogen boron reaction can equal 9.03 x 1011 J of energy. In order to put that into perspective that is enough energy to send an F-16 to the moon. Talk about a lot of energy.
Ensuring that the magnetic confinement of the nuclear fusion is stout enough, strong enough, and reliable enough to house a nuclear fusion reactor is a must. In both the deuterium-tritium fuel source and the hydrogen boron fuel source generate a large, large, large amount of heat. 200 million degrees Celsius is enough to burn through any material that is currently known to man. Nuclear fusion is the type of reaction that happens on the sun and therefore we are essentially trying to make and maintain our own mini sun inside of a building. The Plasma that is generated must not touch any of the walls or it will damage them in an instant. Inertial confinement and magnetic confinement are two ways in which we are able to control the plasma to ensure that it does not touch the containment.
This is a picture of the nuclear fusion reactor that they are currently building in France. The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) will be built in France and is a collaboration between US, Europe, Japan, India, China, Russia, and Korea
. In order to put it into a perspective of how large this facility is going to be… if you look really closely at the bottom of the picture there is a blue person depicted in a lab coat. This facility has to be huge in order to contain and control this reaction. Also the tritium gives off a gas that is toxic to humans. In order to create a barrier that is safe for the techs to work there a containment just to keep the gas from leaching into the area where the workers are.
The ITER magnetic system is ten thousand tons of magnets with energy of 51 Gigajoules. These are used to initiate, confine, shape and control the ITER plasma. These coils produce a ton of heat so they are cooled with helium at around (-269 degrees Celsius) internally. These are called cable-in-conduit conductors. Side fact : These cables were produced by nine different suppliers and it took from 2008 to 2015 for them to be produced.
Here is a depiction of the polywell nuclear fusion reactor. Again this is a reaction that is completely safe from radiation as there is not significant radiation produced from the reaction, it’s byproducts or released from the fuels. This reactor is a magrid or a series of stainless steel doughnuts that are arranged in a way and charged with electricity to ensure that there is a magnetic field produced. Now this is extremely important. Remember the amount of energy that was produced just from two spoonfuls of boron? Well that energy produces heat. Heat that is found in both nuclear reactions which is why the magnetic field needs to be substantial enough to hold the reactions in the center to ensure that they do not touch the containment.
The Graph shown above give a representation of how much power output a polywell reactor produces. This reactor needs to be at least 1.5 meters in diameter due to the fact that if it is not at least this large then it will not supply enough power for the coils that help generate the magnetic field and would negate the purpose of having a reactor that utilizes hydrogen boron. A full scale polywell of about 3 meters in diameter would be large enough to power a small city. That is only about ten feet. Now when we compare that with the size of the deuterium-tritium reactor that is being built in France there is a huge size comparison, as well as fuel waste, and hazards that are associated with it.
This is a picture of an aircraft jet engine that gives off carbon dioxide. This is the jet engine that is used on a Boeing 777 the GE90-115B jet engine. This engine is also about 3 meters. If the polywell reactor were to become a reality utilizing the hydrogen boron fuel it could be used to power our airplanes. Making them more earth and environmentally friendly.
Hydrogen boron is the way of the future when it comes to nuclear fusion power. This is a technology that can be produced in a 10 foot squared area and power a small city. There are many different draw backs to every energy supply that is currently on the market however, nuclear fusion utilizing hydrogen boron fuel is real and needs to be developed. The polywell reactor may not be the solution in the comercial aspect of supplying power to the world but it is a viable power source for commercial aircraft. Placing more funding in the area of research and development of this fuel type is a must. Our future generations shouldn’t have to live in a world full of radioactive waste and carbon emissions let’s act now.
