60 Times a Second – Too Hot to Handle?

 

60 Times a Second – Too Hot to Handle?

A Net Energy Gain Process

It’s been the Holy Grail of energy futurists since the early 1900s, but it has eluded scientists for a very long time. We’re still not that close to a viable energy-generating capacity, but there have been some optimistic signs recently. It’s called “cold fusion,” because the field where the energy is created cools down instantly after the fusion takes place. Theoretically, you could put your hand into that environment – after the reactions have ceased – without burning your hand. But it requires an instant, if infinitesimal, level of exceptionally focused heat, even more heat than what was need to create the stars.

According to Futurism.com: “Cold fusion is supposed to be ‘the energy of the future.’ It is a method of energy production that physicists have been bouncing about since the early 1900s, and it is said that, if it ever comes to fruition, this process will have three times as much energy output as it draws. Indeed, some claim that it would be an ‘inexhaustible source of energy,’ as it relies on the most abundant element in the known universe—hydrogen

“Fortunately, in its most basic sense, understanding how it works is rather simple. Ultimately, fusion (or ‘hot fusion’) is the process that gives life to stars. Under immense pressure and temperatures that reach millions of degrees, elements fuse together, creating heavier elements. As this happens, an immense amount of energy is released.” But it’s not as if you can put hydrogen in a container and subject it to enough heat to cause that fusion. The heat is so intense that there isn’t even a container that can hold the hydrogen (or any particle) during this process, so even if you can generate enough heat, the process would destroy the processor.

Unless there really isn’t a container at all. So, scientists have tried all kinds of processes, from much lower fusion temperatures (failure to date) to suspending the particles to be super-heated by using a magnetic field. Easier said than done, even with the most sophisticated computer-controlled targeting. Generally, the process of such hydrogen fusion creates helium and neutrons – which are lighter in mass than the parts from which they were originally made. Writing for the December 12th CNN.com, Ella Nilsen and René Marsh explain a major breakthrough in US and UK research that may someday lead to commercial cold fusion:

“For the first time ever, US scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction resulting in a net energy gain… In a huge donut-shaped machine called a tokamak [left above] outfitted with giant magnets, scientists working near Oxford were able to generate a record-breaking amount of sustained energy. Even so, it only lasted 5 seconds.

“The heat sustained by the process of fusing the atoms together holds the key to helping produce energy… The missing mass then converts to an enormous amount of energy. The neutrons, which are able to escape the plasma, then hit a “blanket” lining the walls of the tokamak, and their kinetic energy transfers as heat. This heat can then be used to warm water, create steam and power turbines to generate power… The machine that generates the reaction has to undergo serious heat. The plasma needs to reach at least 150 million degrees Celsius, 10 times hotter than the core of the sun.”

Indeed, the next steps are to make that process into a continuous flow – target particle in, fusion, new matter released, target particle in, new matter released… constantly, a series instant fusion moments in that on-off magnetic field. “The big challenge of harnessing fusion energy is sustaining it long enough so that it can power electric grids and heating systems around the globe…

“A UK fusion scientist told CNN that the result of the US breakthrough is promising, but also shows more work needs to happen to make fusion able to generate electricity on a commercial scale… ‘They have worked on the design and the makeup of the target and the shape of the energy pulse to get much better results,’ Tony Roulstone, from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, told CNN.

”‘The opposing argument is that this result is miles away from actual energy gain required for the production of electricity. Therefore, we can say (it) is a success of the science but a long way from providing useful energy.’” CNN.com. The benefits are obvious. Smaller localized generators, perhaps even neighborhood based, without the kinds of massive protective shields used in nuclear power generators today. There are no dangerous radioactive emissions. Someday.

As the war in Ukraine illustrates, as climate change-generated natural disasters profoundly prove, finding a path to alternative energy has become an existential challenge to life on Earth. Green energy – hydroelectric, geothermal, tide-power, solar and wind – will only take us so far. There is a huge demand for safe, inexhaustible and smaller generating footprints… to take this planet where it needs to be. Maybe… and that is a “maybe,” cold fusion might get us there.

I’m Peter Dekom, and not only do we need to find new ways to generate electrical power, those paths need to be affordable, sustainable, safe…. and soon!