By John Miraglia • johnworks3@aol.com
The world’s hunger for energy is increasing. Developing nations want more. AI demands more. At the same time, the Paris Agreement goal of capping greenhouse gas levels at 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels is slipping away. An array of clean energy sources will be required to meet that emissions goal. Energy from fusion reactors may be one of them.
Nuclear energy conjures up images of Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima, and radioactive nuclear waste poisoning the Earth. We can easily forget that nuclear power is one of the most reliable sources of energy compared with fossil fuels and wind and solar technologies. Nuclear plants also have a low-carbon footprint.
What if we could have the benefits of nuclear power with fewer of the hazards it currently entails? These benefits may be commercially available within a few years with advancements in fusion-based nuclear power, despite lingering concerns about fusion energy’s safety and cost (Table).
How does a fusion reactor work?
A fusion reactor uses extremely high temperatures (180 million °F) and pressures to fuse deuterium and tritium. The heat derived from this fusion creates steam that drives turbines and makes electricity. The byproducts of this fusion are helium, hydrogen, and low-level radioactive waste.
How close are we to commercial fusion reactors?
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s spinoff Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) plans to complete what may be the world’s first commercial fusion reactor plant in Virginia by the early 2030s. Proponents say it could produce 400 megawatts of power, enough to provide energy for 150,000 homes. Some scientists not associated with this project believe that fusion reactors won’t be commercially ready till the 2040s or the second half of the 21st century.
In June 2024, the US Department of Energy (DOE), inaugurated the US Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy. The initiative is designed to accelerate the development of fusion reactors through government/private partnerships. In addition, the DOE dedicated $180 million to fusion research.
Another project is ITER (formerly, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). An international consortium is working to achieve commercial levels of fusion-derived energy. After multiple delays, caused by technical, financial, and political setbacks, the consortium now anticipates the reactor will commence operations in 2033 (see Current Issues).
China is reportedly investing up to $1.5 billion dollars in fusion research each year. It has more than one fusion research center under development. CNN reported that one of them, in Hefei, was expected to be ready for testing this year.
Current Issues
Fusion requires huge amounts of energy to create. The goal is to develop a fusion reactor whose energy output exceeds the required energy input. Q = 1 is the breakeven point where energy input equals energy output. In 2022, the Lawrence Livermore lab in CA announced that by fusing 2 hydrogen atoms they created more energy than was required to initiate the fusion reaction (called ignition). CFS hopes to pass Q = 1 (Q > 1) by 2027. ITER has a long-term goal of achieving Q > 10. Self-sustaining fusion reactions are far in the future, date unknown.
There is still an ongoing debate among scientists about practicality, cost effectiveness, and the availability of sufficient tritium. And of course, there will be nuclear waste to deal with.
In a 2017 article, Daniel Jassby, a 25-year veteran physicist of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, raised a number of concerns about fusion energy: A power-hungry supporting infrastructure must continuously draw energy from the grid when the fusion reactor is not operational. These plants may require twice as many workers as fission energy plants. They produce more waste in sheer tonnage, albeit with lower radioactivity, than nuclear fission plants; and, they may not produce enough tritium on their own, necessitating an ongoing supply from fission nuclear plants. Gases and high neutron energies will damage the fusion reactor over time, and workers who service these facilities will require protection from radiation exposure.
Jassby also noted that plutonium 239, a primary nuclear bomb ingredient, can be manufactured in a fusion reactor with relative ease.
If these hurdles can be overcome, political obstacles remain. One unknown is whether the current US administration will stay with, increase, reduce, or do away with the Biden administration’s commitment to fusion energy.
Call to Action
The Sierra Club published a cautious policy position on fusion power in 1986: “The dangers posed by the probable releases of tritium used by fusion plants, the problem of decommissioning these plants, and their high cost led the Sierra Club to believe that the development of fusion reactors to generate electricity should not be pursued at this time.” The Club stated that it is “not opposed to safe and proper research as long as it is not at the expense of more benign ‘soft energy path’ technology.”
I believe that science may provide answers to the challenges of fusion energy. To reach the goal of clean, reliable, abundant, and cost effective energy, we should recognize that technologies change and improve. Today’s state-of-the-art energy sources will be tomorrow’s whale oil. It would be a mistake to wed ourselves exclusively to today’s sources. We should be open to considering new technologies such as fusion reactors.
Since 1986, we have
· Developed the internet,
· Established personal computers in many businesses, homes, and schools,
· Created smart phones and TVs,
· Launched AI as a business, military, and home tool,
· Soft-landed unmanned Mars explorers, and
· Sent probes to asteroids beyond our solar system
Maybe it’s time for the Sierra Club to reconsider the use of fusion nuclear power technology.
Start a conversation in your Sierra Club group about fusion and make your feelings known at the Chapter and National levels.
Resources
US Gov. fusion info: https://shorturl.at/27QlP
China’s Hefei plant: https://shorturl.at/3klEG
Jassby article: https://shorturl.at/iW8zL