I can’t help but think Ed Miliband is not being carefully informed when he says the government’s funding pledge means Britain is within “grasping distance” of “safe, clean, unlimited energy” from nuclear fusion (Ministers record record £410m support for UK nuclear power, 16 January).
Before we start talking about nuclear fusion by magnetic confinement as a commercially viable source of energy, the scientific community must face five major challenges. We have to clarify:
1) That we can run a burning plasma for hours (if not in steady state) with Q = 40 (Q being the ratio between the energy coming from the fusion reactions and the power used to heat the plasma) without disturbances. If all goes well, at some point in the future, iter fusion project It is stated that your article will run a burning plasma with Q = 10 for 10 minutes.
2) That we can handle the heat escaping from such a plasma and exhausting it on the first wall of the confined device.
3) We can reproduce the power plant blanket more Tritium What we burn in plasma. (Tritium is not readily available in nature and must be produced.)
4) That the materials used to build such a plant can withstand Neutron with a penny Coming from burning plasma without losing its structural properties and without becoming excessively radioactive.
5) The fusion reactor can be reliably operated and maintained by remote manipulation, reducing downtime needed for maintenance.
These are huge scientific and technological challenges, for which there is no solution (despite the progress made) in the near future. The reward for finding a solution will be enormous, and so the search must continue with humility and perseverance, but there is no room for excessive data or triumphalism, which can only undermine the credibility of scientists and engineers on the problem.
Luca Garzotti
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
