This is a huge step towards doing it sustainably. Only a few years ago, it was impossible to reach temperatures like this for more than a fraction of a second, and now we're rapidly approaching two minutes. It's likely that in just a few years, it will be possible to do for hours at a time, if not indefinitely.
Less than a year ago, the record was on KSTAR, and that was 20 seconds. A year before it was 8.
That's correct, ITER is designed to be a research reactor, and will spend the first few years of its life being regularly serviced and doing lots of interesting science, then sealed up and run more consistently on hydrogen at first, then on a 50:50 mixture of tritium and deuterium. The interesting thing about ITER is that it's expected to have a Q ratio (or breakeven ratio) of 10 or more, meaning that 10 times as much energy should be made as should be used.
China also has plans for the CFETR, likely their next Tokamak, which will be slightly smaller in scale and energy output compared to ITER initially to do slightly different research and validation, but then be upgraded to more than double the energy output of ITER, and should have a Q ratio of between 12 and 15. Projects like STEP in the UK and CFETR are paving the way for the DEMO class reactors, which will be jointly designed and built in most of the ITER countries and will produce a continuous 2 gigawatts, assuming they don't completely leapfrog DEMO.
Shit, I'm not really sure. Most of the info I know about it came from talking with a friend in the nuclear physics department at my university, and from double-checking info against ITER.org
How close are we to something sustainable? I just googled that sun's core is 15 million celsius, so 120 million for 101 seconds doesn't seem half bad
This is a huge step towards doing it sustainably. Only a few years ago, it was impossible to reach temperatures like this for more than a fraction of a second, and now we're rapidly approaching two minutes. It's likely that in just a few years, it will be possible to do for hours at a time, if not indefinitely.
Less than a year ago, the record was on KSTAR, and that was 20 seconds. A year before it was 8.
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That's correct, ITER is designed to be a research reactor, and will spend the first few years of its life being regularly serviced and doing lots of interesting science, then sealed up and run more consistently on hydrogen at first, then on a 50:50 mixture of tritium and deuterium. The interesting thing about ITER is that it's expected to have a Q ratio (or breakeven ratio) of 10 or more, meaning that 10 times as much energy should be made as should be used.
China also has plans for the CFETR, likely their next Tokamak, which will be slightly smaller in scale and energy output compared to ITER initially to do slightly different research and validation, but then be upgraded to more than double the energy output of ITER, and should have a Q ratio of between 12 and 15. Projects like STEP in the UK and CFETR are paving the way for the DEMO class reactors, which will be jointly designed and built in most of the ITER countries and will produce a continuous 2 gigawatts, assuming they don't completely leapfrog DEMO.
God that’s so fucking cool. Where can I read more about iter?
Shit, I'm not really sure. Most of the info I know about it came from talking with a friend in the nuclear physics department at my university, and from double-checking info against ITER.org