What does a tokamak look like?

A tokamak is a machine that confines a plasma using magnetic fields in a donut shape that scientists call a torus.

What is the difference between a stellarator and tokamak?

In the tokamak, the rotational transform of a helical magnetic field is formed by a toroidal field generated by external coils together with a poloidal field generated by the plasma current. In the stellarator, the twisting field is produced entirely by external non-axisymmetric coils.

Is a tokamak safe?

The results show that fusion can be a very safe and sustainable energy source. A fusion power plant possesses not only intrinsic advantages with respect to safety compared to other sources of energy, but also a negligible long term impact on the environment provided certain precautions are taken in its design.

How big is a tokamak?

830 cubic metres. The ITER Tokamak will be the largest ever built, with a plasma volume of 830 cubic metres.

How much does a tokamak cost?

The tokamak fusion reactor with a power level above that of the ITER but with a comparable or less reactor size, and with the COE less than 120 mills/kWh and the capital cost < 6000 M$ seems viable if plasma physics and engineering technology compared to those adapted in the design of the ITER are improved.

What is a tokamak? And is a spherical tokamak different?

What is a tokamak used for?

tokamak, Device used in nuclear-fusion research for magnetic confinement of plasma. It consists of a complex system of magnetic fields that confine the plasma of reactive charged particles in a hollow, doughnut-shaped container.

How does a tokamak work?

In a tokamak, magnetic field coils confine plasma particles to allow the plasma to achieve the conditions necessary for fusion. One set of magnetic coils generates an intense “toroidal” field, directed the long way around the torus.

Can a tokamak explode?

During operation, the ITER Tokamak chamber will contain only a tiny amount, less than one tenth of a gram, of hydrogen fuel at any given moment. If disruption occurs during a pulse, the reaction cools and ends. "A nuclear explosion in ITER is simply not possible," says Loughlin.

How does a tokamak not melt?

Fusion powers the sun by forcing hydrogen atoms to combine into helium and releasing enormous amounts of energy. A tokamak uses strong magnetic fields to confine a plasma that is heated above 200 million ℃, maximizing the efficiency of hydrogen isotope fusion.

What is the largest tokamak in the world?

The ITER Tokamak

The tokamak is an experimental machine designed to harness the energy of fusion. ITER will be the world's largest tokamak, with a plasma radius (R) of 6.2 m and a plasma volume of 840 m³.

How do you get energy out of a tokamak?

Inside a tokamak, the energy produced through the fusion of atoms is absorbed as heat in the walls of the vessel. Just like a conventional power plant, a fusion power plant will use this heat to produce steam and then electricity by way of turbines and generators.

What is the main problem with tokamak reactors?

A key obstacle to the successful energy production in tokamak reactors is plasma material interactions and robust performance of PFCs during abnormal events including ELMs at normal operation and disruptions during abnormal operation.

What is ITER tokamak?

ITER is based on magnetic confinement fusion that uses magnetic fields to contain the fusion fuel in plasma form. The magnet system used in the ITER tokamak will be the largest superconducting magnet system ever built.

Why is a stellarator twisted?

Stellarators use external coils to generate a twisting magnetic field to control the plasma instead of inducing electric currents inside the plasma like a tokamak.

Can cold fusion work?

These retractions, combined with negative results from some famous laboratories, led most scientists to conclude, as early as 1989, that no positive result should be attributed to cold fusion.

How hot is a Tokamak reactor?

The temperatures inside the ITER Tokamak must reach 150 million degrees Celsius—or ten times the temperature at the core of the Sun—in order for the gas in the vacuum chamber to reach the plasma state and for the fusion reaction to occur.

What is hotter than the Sun?

And the answer: lightning. According to NASA, lightning is four times hotter than the surface of the sun. The air around a stroke of lightning can peak at 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit, while the surface of the sun is around 11,000 degrees.

What material is a tokamak made of?

To meet this challenge, the materials that need to be developed for the tokamaks are steels for the first wall and other structurals, copper alloys for the heat sink, and beryllium for facing the plasma.

What happens if a tokamak fails?

If any of the systems fail (such as the confining toroidal magnetic field) or if, by accident, too much fuel is put into the plasma, the plasma will naturally terminate (what we call “disrupt”) – losing its energy very quickly and extinguishing before any sustained damage is done to the structure.

How far off is nuclear fusion?

There's huge uncertainty about when fusion power will be ready for commercialisation. One estimate suggests maybe 20 years.

What happens if a tokamak explodes?

So, even given pressures not much greater than normal earth atmospheric pressure at sea level, this volume of vapor at 150 million degrees C., given the total failure of electromagnetic containment, would simply vaporize all surrounding buildings, and everything in the environment.

Where is the tokamak?

On a cleared, 42-hectare site in the south of France, building has been underway since 2010. The central Tokamak Building was handed over to the ITER Organization in March 2020 for the start of machine assembly. The first major event of this new phase was the installation of the 1,250-tonne cryostat base in May 2020.

What shape is a tokamak?

A tokamak (/ˈtoʊkəmæk/; Russian: токамáк) is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being developed to produce controlled thermonuclear fusion power.

What fuel does tokamak use?

Once the fusion reaction is established in a tokamak, deuterium and lithium are the external fuels required to sustain it. Both of these fuels are readily available.