EU Nuclear Fusion Project Announces New Milestone Moment

Scientists and engineers at EUROfusion are celebrating the achievement of a new fusion energy record, releasing 59 megajoules of sustained fusion energy from the tokamak unit, JET (Joint European Torus).

JET was the holder of the previous record, which was 21.7 megajoules, achieved all the way back in 1997. This time, the magnetically confined plasma reactor sustained a five-second pulse, taking advantage of two decades of scientific and technological progression.

As the announcement underlines, this record and the scientific data produced from the experiment will be a major boost for ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), a globally co-founded nuclear fusion research program that is the largest of its kind. ITER is where the hopes of today’s energy science lie, to serve as the final and most definitive proof that we can produce energy through nuclear fusion and harness it in a practical manner.

Dr. Bernard Bigot, the Director General of ITER has made the following statement in response to the new record from JET:

“A sustained pulse of deuterium-tritium fusion at this power level – nearly industrial-scale – delivers a resounding confirmation to all of those involved in the global fusion quest. For the ITER Project, the JET results are a strong confidence builder that we are on the right track as we move forward toward demonstrating full fusion power.”

EUROfusion is looking even ahead of ITER, having presented preliminary plans for DEMO, the first nuclear fusion reactor to demonstrate the production and distribution of electricity in an experimental network.

DEMO will have a gross thermal output of 2000 MW, whereas ITER has 500 MW and JET only 16 MW. In summary, JET was the proof of concept, ITER is the scientific tool to help develop the technology to maturity, and DEMO will be the call to investors.

If it all goes as these elite international scientific team hopes, humanity’s energy problems will be solved forever, as fusion is a near-limitless and inherently safe source of clean electricity that doesn’t rely on expensive or hard to source materials.

Article Source: EUROfusion
Cover Image: Pixabay