Step by step, the International Fusion Energy Project (or, as it is commonly known, ITER) continues to advance. The last step is in the giant coils that will surround this high-tech “doughnut”.
New coils. The experimental fusion reactor ITER has its coils ready. There are 18 coils (plus a spare) measuring 17 metres high and nine metres wide, essential parts for the operation of this reactor, the result of international cooperation.
The mass of each of these coils is about 360 tons, approximately the same as a Boeing 747, according to those responsible for its development. Altogether, the 19 coils had more than 87,000 kilometers of cable inside them.
When operating in unison, ITER’s 18 D-shaped coils will become the largest magnet ever created by humanity: capable of generating 41 gigajoules of magnetic energy. A magnetic field some 250,000 times stronger than that of our planet, explain those responsible for its development.
A transcontinental project. Ten of the coils were built in Europe, while the remaining eight operational coils and the spare coil were manufactured in Japan. The ITER consortium also has American collaboration, making it an example of transcontinental cooperation.
Toroidal field coil. The future ITER reactor is what is known as a tokamak reactor, a Russian acronym that refers to “toroidal chamber with magnetic coils”. Tokamaks are magnetic confinement fusion reactors.
Like all fusion reactors, these generate energy through the fusion of the nuclei of two isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium). The characteristic of magnetic confinement is that the plasma formed by these atoms is contained in a chamber thanks to the magnetic field generated by these coils.
In tokamaks, this chamber is toroidal in shape, that is, similar to a doughnut. The coils that ITER now receives will surround its chamber to generate this magnetic field when it begins to operate.
Temperature higher than that of the Sun. Getting deuterium and tritium nuclei to fuse requires first creating a plasma, a cloud of atomic nuclei and electrons, and then heating it to a temperature of about 150 million degrees Celsius — 10 times the temperature of our star’s core.
Temperature is nothing more than a measure of the movement of these atomic nuclei. The aim is to make the nuclei overcome their magnetic repulsion and fuse with each other, giving rise to a heavier element (helium) and a huge amount of residual energy.
Interestingly, the coils will have to be cooled to just four degrees above absolute zero (-269º Celsius) to become superconducting.
The challenge of fusion. The experimental reactor ITER will be a colossus in size and production. According to its managers, it will generate 500 megawatts of thermal energy that will be converted into 200 megawatts of electrical energy: enough to light 200,000 homes.
However, the idea is to scale up this colossus even further. According to these estimates, the future commercial version of ITER could multiply its electricity generation by 10: 2,000 megawatts capable of providing electricity to 2 million homes.
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Image | ITER