In recent times, due to the increasingly serious crisis due to the costs of energy, largely self -induced, it is indicated as a strategic and “clean” direction that of nuclear merger reactors (Fusion of two light atomic nuclei that combine to give rise to a heavier nucleus with energy release), which would provide unlimited energy, at low cost and without waste to be managed: the so -called “energy of the stars”. Not being an expert on the subject, I asked an old friend of mine on the topic, a brilliant professor of physics now retired. What emerged from the chat, needless to say, is rather despair.
The melting plants in design use as “fuel” not only the deuterio, an isotope of natural hydrogen, abundant and stable, but also the trizio, an extremely rare isotope in nature, with an emivity of 12.32 years, which is formed as a by -product in conventional nuclear power plants, that is, the fission nuclear power plants, which use the uranium as fuel (235U). So, when it comes to nuclear merger power plants, it would be more correct to say things as they are, that is, that they are central that will use as a fuel not only deuterio (D), but a mixture of deuter and trizio (DT). And the problem arises here: The supply of trizio (among other things, a volatile and radioactive gas, difficult to contain and manipulate). At this point I wanted to deepen the topic.
The main reason why it is necessary to resort to the deuter and trizio mixture (DT) is the lowest fireproof temperature: the DT reaction requires “only” 100-150 million temperatures of Celsius (already a titanic undertaking, but in any case lower than that required by other reactions that can be conceivable). On the other hand, The merger with deute only requires much higher temperatures (about 400 million degrees), while other alternative solutions need billions of degrees, temperatures currently beyond any feasibility.
So, given that the obligatory choice, at least for this century, is to use the DT mixture, and also assuming that a reactor can become self -sufficient, it is necessary an initial amount of trizio to start it. With the current stocks so limited, satisfying this question for multiple reactors would be problematic without a significant expansion of production through fission or other sources. In fact, the production of Trizio could increase through dedicated fission reactors, but this It would involve high costs and an existing nuclear infrastructure addictionpartly contradicting the idea of ”clean” and autonomous energy.
In conclusion, we are still far from a definitive solution for the supply of trizio on a large scale and the current stocks are insufficient to support even a small reactor for more than a few hours or days of continuous operation. Someone might think of accumulating it, but it should not be forgotten that the initial escort would halve every 12 years, being the trizio unstable. Progress depends on the future tests of process And the validation of systems to make future self-sufficient melting reactors reactors, but the delays (the first significant plasma is slipped to 2034-2039) and the technical uncertainties suggest, optimistically, that a commercial chain based on trizio will not be a reality before the second half of the century. In the meantime, the research continues, but trizio remains a critical bottleneck that could limit the scalability of the DT nuclear fusion.
At this point, disconsolate, I asked my friend what could be a realistically passable way. The answer: “Investments in nuclear fusion will certainly have important scientific and technological repercussions, but I am skeptical about their commercial application. For my part, I invested my money in a company that deals with intrinsically safe, small and modular fission reactors (SMR/Amr), the so -called fourth generation nuclear. “
From all this I have deduced that, as often happens, the information intended for the general public is at least excessively optimistic on the amazing future energy that will be ensured “by the energy of the stars”. It would be more realistic to focus in the immediate third generation nuclear power plants (Gen III/III+) and, at the same time, increase investments in fourth generation nuclear power, which will most likely represent the future of fission nuclear power (among other things, it would also mostly solve the problem of the disposal of the slag of conventional nuclear power plants). However, it is useless to deny it: if nuclear fusion is little more than a chimera, Even for fourth generation nuclear power there is still a long way to go for a large scale implementation. In the immediate one, let’s keep our hydrocarbons dear, including the methane we already have; We use wind and solar core sparingly, only when economically convenient; And let’s start building these blessed third generation nuclear power plants (Gen Iii/III+). Better late than never. Nuclear fusion is truly “the energy of the stars”, both by origin and by ambition.
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