Teams that are working on two different continents now have concluded getting almost the same milestones in their respective efforts for tapping energy key sources for the fight with climate change. And therefore they have come up with a solution by producing quite impressive magnets.
Scientists in the south of France in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor got delivered the first-ever part of the massive magnet which is so strong that the American manufacturer of the magnet claims that it can lift as heavy as an aircraft lifter.
Dimensions of the Magnet-
It’s nearly twenty meters tall i.e. sixty feet and in diameter, it’s more than four meters that equal fourteen feet given it’s fully assembled. This magnet has been a crucial component for the thirty-five nations in their attempt to master nuclear fusion.
Recent Updates-
Scientists from MIT also known as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and one private company together announced in the first week of September 2021 that they have successfully hit the milestone after a successful test for the world’s strongest superconducting magnet with high temperature that might allow the whole team to move above the ITER in their race for building the ‘sun on earth’.
On the contrary to the already present fission reactors that often produce radioactive waste and catastrophic meltdowns. Supporters of the fusion claim that this one offers a clean and virtually endless supply of energy.
This just isn’t about splitting of atoms but this fusion copies a process that happens naturally among stars to get two hydrogen atoms together and then produce a single helium atom with that comes a whole lot of energy.
As this article’s tagline means in simpler words is that Magnet milestones move distant nuclear fusion dream closer by achieving this fusion that requires lots of pressure and heat whose amount is just unimaginable. One kind of approach is that by turning the hydrogen into a charged electrical gas or the plasma that can be then controlled in a vacuum chamber that appears to be donut-shaped.
And this all is done with the help of the powerful superconducting magnets as well as the ‘central solenoid’ which General Atomics started to ship to France from San Diego this summer.
More Insights-
- ITER claims that they have completed 75% and by 2026 it would be ready for firing the reactor while the main goal is to manufacture ten times the energy which was being produced, that would be required to provide heat for the plasma to get heated, therefore proving the fusion technology is valid and all should be done by 2035.
- Among all those who are competing in beating them is the MIT team that has managed to build a magnetic field two times in comparison to ITER with the magnet being forty times smaller. These scientists along with Commonwealth Fusion Systems claimed to get the device ready by the early 2030s for everyday use.
However, this whole concept of nuclear energy is still in the race for the world’s best opportunity to reduce the effects and emissions caused by greenhouse gas.