Korean fusion reactor achieves record plasma. The Korean Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) tokamak-type nuclear fusion reactor has achieved a world record of 70 seconds in high-performance plasma operation, South Korea's National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) has announced.
The institute, based at Daejeon, 160 km south of Seoul, said a fully non-inductive operation mode - called a "high poloidal beta scenario" - has been used to achieve this long and steady state of operation using high-power neutral beam. It said various techniques, including a rotating 3D field, have been applied to alleviate the accumulated heat fluxes on the plasma-facing components. Iter decommissioning to be studied. A consortium led by Amec Foster Wheeler has been awarded a contract to examine the future decommissioning of the Iter fusion reactor, currently under construction at Cadarache in the south of France.
Amec Foster Wheeler, with EAI Ingénierie and NUKEM Technologies Engineering Services, will carry out the 12-month study into the duration, sequencing and cost for dismantling the Iter machine, once it comes to the end of its projected operating period in 2042. The contract is one of several awarded to Amec Foster Wheeler related to the project. Contract to manage Iter assembly and installation. Following a year-long international tender process, the Momentum joint venture - comprising Amec Foster Wheeler of the UK, Assystem of France and Kepco Engineering & Construction of South Korea - has been selected as construction management-as-agent contractor for the Iter fusion project.
Under a ten-year, €174 million ($193 million) contract signed yesterday, the Momentum joint venture will manage and coordinate the assembly and installation of more than one million components for the Iter tokamak and associated plant systems. There is an option for a three-year extension to the contract. The contract was signed by Bernard Bigot, director general of the ITER Organization; Tom Jones, vice-president for business development at Amec Foster Wheeler Nuclear; Hubert Croly-Labourdette, vice-president for strategic operations at Assystem; and Jik-Lae Jo, executive senior vice-president at Kepco E&C. Construction work on Iter began in Cadarache, southern France, in 2010. Iter cryoplant tanks ready for shipment. The two biggest tanks for the Iter fusion reactor's cryoplant have been completed in the Czech Republic.
An exceptional convoy will be required to transport them to the Iter construction site in southern France. The quench tanks measure 35 meters in length, 4.5 meters in diameter and weighing about 160 tonnes. They were produced by French gas technology company Air Liquide and its subcontractor Chart Ferox. Air Liquide was awarded a contract in May 2014 by Iter's European domestic agency, Fusion for Energy (F4E), for the engineering, procurement, installation and testing of the tokamak reactor's cryoplant. The contract was worth some €65 million ($74 million). The cryoplant produces and distributes the cooling power needed to cool the fusion reactor's magnets, thermal shields and cryopumps.
Two massive tanks ready for the ITER cryoplant. News Events.
Press release EN 210520141200. Fusion contrôlée. La fusion contrôlée est l'un des rêves que poursuivent les physiciens.
Il s'agit non seulement de reproduire sur Terre les réactions de fusion thermonucléaire qui font briller les étoiles, ce que l'on sait déjà faire avec la bombe H ou en accélérateur, mais surtout de maîtriser ces réactions pour produire de l'énergie. Si l’on arrivait, par exemple, à reproduire de façon stable les réactions de fusion du deutérium avec le tritium, deux isotopes de l’hydrogène, nous disposerions d’une énergie presque propre et virtuellement inépuisable.
Il y a essentiellement deux voies pour cela : La première est celle à la base du projet ITER. L'idée est de maintenir à très haute température un plasma de basse densité pendant un temps relativement long, de l'ordre de la seconde. Dans les grandes lignes, le mécanisme mis en jeu pour la fusion inertielle est le suivant. Iter : retard confirmé pour le premier plasma, pas avant 2025.
La maitrise de la fusion contrôlée est indispensable à l’humanité pour affronter les défis de la seconde moitié du XXIe siècle.
Une première étape sur ce chemin passe par le réacteur Iter dont on voit sur cette image prise en 2016, l’état d’avancement des travaux. © EJF Riche, DP. Collection - Cryoscope. ITER explorera la possibilité d’utiliser la fusion comme source d’énergie.
Les contributions d’Air Liquide dans ce projet ambitieux réaffirment son expertise dans la cryogénie de pointe. Plus fondamentalement, elles consolident sa position comme partenaire privilégié des grands projets scientifiques mondiaux et du développement des solutions énergétiques de demain. ITER, c’est International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. ITER c’est aussi chemin, en latin. The world's largest Tokamak. ITER - the way to new energy. Tritium Breeding. CODAC. Cooling Water. Vacuum System. Cryogenics. Remote Handling. Power Supply. Fuel Cycle. A jumbo disruption mitigation pellet (16 mm) hits the deflecting plate and shatters.
Scientists are working on plate orientation to optimize the spatial distribution of debris. The fuels used in ITER will be processed in a closed cycle. Hot Cell Complex. Diagnostics. As an experimental machine, ITER will be equipped with a large array of diagnostic instruments to provide the measurements necessary to control, evaluate and optimize plasma performance in ITER and to further the understanding of plasma physics.
Because of the harsh environment inside the vacuum vessel, these systems will cope with a range of phenomena not previously encountered in diagnostic implementation, while performing with great accuracy and precision. The levels of neutral particle flux, neutron flux and fluence are respectively about 5, 10 and 10,000 times higher than the harshest experienced in today's machines. The pulse length of the fusion reaction—or the amount of time the reaction is sustained—is about 100 times longer. In the world of tokamaks ITER will be a giant.
However, its operation wouldn't be successful without such tiny elements as diamond detectors. Plasma-facing and operational diagnostics aid in the protection and operation of the machine. External Heating Systems.