We have news of the experimental reactor of nuclear fusion from the University of Seville. Very good news. The SMART Tokamak plan aims to develop a type reactor tokamak extraordinarily compact. In fact, the acronym SMART comes from the English name ‘SMall Aspect Ratio Tokamak’. Building a compact fusion energy reactor is not easy.
In fact, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), the experimental fusion reactor that an international consortium led by Europe is building in the French town of Cadarache, is gigantic for several good reasons. The most relevant is that a large vacuum chamber together with high intensity magnetic fields allow the plasma to be stabilized more effectively. And the other advantage is that This design minimizes energy loss.
The SMART experimental fusion reactor that the engineers at the University of Seville are working on does not have the titanic size that ITER will have in its favor, but this does not mean that it will not come to fruition. In fact, its strategy is radically different from that of ITER and its design is surprisingly innovative. In any case, the development of SMART is being carried out within the international initiative Fusion2Gridso Seville researchers are not alone in this adventure. They work side by side with scientists from the Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University (USA).
SMART has generated the first plasma with negative triangularity
The vacuum chamber in which the fusion of the deuterium and tritium nuclei, the two isotopes of hydrogen involved in the fusion reaction, occurs does not need to be as large in the SMART reactor as in ITER or other experimental fusion machines because because it has negative triangularity in its favor. Broadly speaking, triangularity identifies the geometry of the plasma within the tokamak by being confined inside the magnetic field.
SMART’s negative triangularity causes the plasma cross section to compress toward the center
By adopting positive triangularity, which is common in experimental fusion reactors of the type tokamakthe widest part of the triangular section of the plasma is outside the center of the vacuum chamber. This geometry is very well known, and it works, although it is not optimal to control plasma turbulence. In contrast, SMART’s negative triangularity causes the plasma cross section to compress toward the center, so the widest part faces the inside of the vacuum chamber.
Negative triangularity has two major advantages. On the one hand, it is very effective in controlling plasma instabilities. And, in addition, it helps to distribute the heat at the base of the reactor in a more homogeneous way. Its biggest problem is that this technology is still young and requires much more research. Fortunately, researchers at the University of Seville are on the right track. On a very good path. And they have already done the first plasma testa milestone that marks the beginning of the experimental phase of the SMART reactor.
“We were all very excited to see the first magnetically confined plasma, and we look forward to harnessing the capabilities of the SMART reactor together with the international scientific community (…) SMART has attracted enormous interest around the world“, Eleonora Viezzer has declaredphysicist and professor at the University of Seville. The initial investment in this project has been slightly more than five million eurosbut over its estimated 10 years of development it will presumably require a total investment of about 500 million euros.
Image | University of Seville
More information | Nuclear Fusion | University of Seville
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