Nuclei

Nuclear Fusion Reactor

Nuclear fusion is a kind of reaction that involves two or more atomic nuclei combines to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles like protons or neutrons. The mass difference between the reactants and products results in either the release or the absorption of an enormous amount of energy. A nuclear fusion reactor is a thermonuclear reactor; a device to produce electrical power from the energy released in a nuclear fusion reaction.

Nuclear fusion reactor

                                                                                         Nuclear fusion reactor

What is a Nuclear Fusion Reactor?

Fusion power is a way of producing power generation that would in turn generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a nuclear fusion reaction, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, which releases an enormous amount of energy. Devices required to harness this energy are nuclear fusion reactors. A nuclear fusion reactor produces helium, which is an inert gas.

The fuel of Nuclear Fusion Reactor

The nuclear fusion reactor is a multi combined structure that allows for variable input rates of 3 types of fuel: Deuterium, Tritium, and D-T Fuel. Not only power is generated in the reactor, but also steam is produced by water cooling the structure, which is useful for powering an Industrial Turbine.

Starting the Nuclear Fusion Reactor

First step: The nuclear fusion reactor requires an outside burst of energy from a charged Laser Amplifier to start along with a small amount of D-T Fuel to begin the fusion process.

Second step: Initial Fuel – The Hohlraum stores 10 units of D-T Fuel required for the initial reaction.

Third step: Ignition – The statistics tab section shows the required temperature for the reaction to start off. To reach the ignition temperature, a Laser Amplifier is charged with energy and then fired into the Laser Focus Matrix. With the full energy stored in the Amplifier and Hohlraum in the Reactor Controller, the laser is fired to begin the fusion reaction. For the reaction to continue, the temperature must not fall below the ignition temperature.

For a nuclear fusion reactor to run properly at a constant rate, it is best to pipe in Deuterium and Tritium separately at a rate greater than half of the specified injection rate in different fuel tab for different type of fuel.

Types of Fusion Reactors

Magnetic Confinement:

Here, the hot molten plasma is prevented from touching the walls of the confining material with the help of magnetic fields. The temperatures achieved is extremely high and therefore they are kept away from touching the material.

Inertial Confinement:

Here, deuterium-tritium (D-T) is usually compressed to tremendous density and temperature so that fusion power is produced in the few nanoseconds before the pellet blows apart.

Advantages of Nuclear Fusion

There are two main advantages of fusion. Firstly, nuclear fusion reactions produce absolutely enormous amounts of energy, much more than fission reactions. The second main advantage is that fusion does not produce radioactive, toxic waste products.

FAQs about Nuclear Fusion Reactor

Q.1. Which is the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor?

Answer – ITER is the largest nuclear fusion reactor. It took around 35 years in the making the reactor. 35  nations worldwide participated with the goal of using fusion as an industrial-scale source of clean energy.

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