South Korea has pushed the world closer to the dream of near-unlimited clean energy.
Scientists announced on Tuesday that the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) nuclear fusion reactor set a new record after superheating a plasma loop to 180 million degrees Fahrenheit (or roughly 100 million degrees Celcius) for 48 seconds.
The recent attempt shattered the previous record of 31 seconds, set by the same reactor in 2021.
For over 70 years, scientists have attempted to harness the power of nuclear fusion, the process that powers stars. Main-sequence stars fuse hydrogen atoms into helium under extremely high pressures and temperatures, converting matter into light and heat. This process generates enormous amounts of energy without producing greenhouse gases or long-lasting radioactive waste.
Nuclear fusion reactors replicate the conditions found in the hearts of stars. The tokamak is the most common design for fusion reactors, and it works by superheating plasma and trapping it inside a reactor chamber with powerful magnetic fields.
Soviet scientist Natan Yavlinsky designed the first tokamak in 1958, but no one has yet succeeded in creating a reactor that outputs more energy than it consumes.
One of the main challenges lies in managing plasma that is hot enough to achieve fusion. Fusion reactors must reach temperatures many times hotter than the sun since they operate at much lower pressures than those found in the cores of stars where fusion naturally occurs.
For example, the core of the sun reaches temperatures around 27 million Fahrenheit (about 15 million Celcius) and withstands pressures about 340 billion times greater than the air pressure at sea level on Earth.
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Scientists sustain temperatures of 180 million Fahrenheit for 300 seconds
Cooking plasma to these temperatures is relatively easy, but corralling it so that it doesn’t burn through the reactor without also ruining the fusion process is technically challenging. Scientists usually accomplish this with either lasers or magnetic fields.
To prolong the burning time of their plasma beyond the previous record, the scientists modified their reactor’s design, including replacing carbon with tungsten to enhance the efficiency of the tokamak’s “divertors,” which extract heat and ash from the reactor.
“Despite being the first experiment run in the environment of the new tungsten divertors, thorough hardware testing and campaign preparation enabled us to achieve results surpassing those of previous KSTAR records in a short period,” Si-Woo Yoon, the director of the KSTAR Research Center, said.
By 2026, KSTAR scientists aim to sustain temperatures of 180 million Fahrenheit for 300 seconds. This record joins other achievements by competing fusion reactors worldwide, including one by the U.S. government-funded National Ignition Facility (NIF), which made headlines after its reactor core briefly produced more energy than it consumed.
Nuclear fusion holds the potential to be significantly more environmentally friendly compared to traditional nuclear fission and fossil fuels.
Nuclear fusion stands out as a potentially more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional energy sources because it produces no greenhouse gas emissions during the energy generation process, unlike fossil fuels. This feature makes it a clean energy source that can significantly help in the fight against climate change.
Fusion generates far less radioactive waste
Additionally, fusion generates far less radioactive waste than nuclear fission, which relies on uranium or plutonium. The waste from fusion is not only less hazardous but also has a much shorter half-life, typically lasting only decades. Fusion reactors use fuels such as deuterium and tritium, derived from water and lithium respectively, which are more abundant and widely available than uranium.
This reduces the environmental impact associated with mining and the geopolitical risks tied to resource scarcity.
Fusion also offers enhanced safety benefits; disruptions or malfunctions in a fusion reactor do not lead to catastrophic meltdowns like those possible in fission reactors. Instead, disturbances tend to quench the reaction, making fusion inherently safer. These characteristics highlight nuclear fusion’s potential as a transformative clean energy source, though its practical and economic viability remains a significant challenge for the future.
Achieving commercially viable nuclear fusion is a complex challenge for scientists around the world. There is no single answer on how long it will take to achieve this goal. Estimates vary depending on the research institution with most experts agreeing that achieving large-scale energy generation from nuclear fusion is unlikely before approximately 2050. The more cautious experts suggest it might extend this estimate by another decade.
For right now there’s traditional nuclear fission, which represents a flawed but otherwise efficient solution to climate change.
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Business as usual until at least 2050
There is a substantial amount of tension in the world uranium markets right now due to prevailing geopolitical activities and attitudes.
Overall, geopolitical instability is creating uncertainty and driving demand for uranium, impacting prices. One specific example is the ongoing possibility of the U.S. banning imports of Russian enriched uranium by 2028. This would force the U.S. to find alternative sources, further tightening the market.
The Athabasca Basin in Canada is one such alternative source, with corporations like Cameco Corporation (NYSE: CCO) (TSX: CCJ), Denison Mines (TSX: DM) (NYSE: DNN) and smaller, better-value corporations like ATHA Energy Corp (CSE: SASK) (OTCQB: SASKF) (FRA: X5U).
ATHA Energy bolstered its uranium portfolio in early March 2024 by acquiring the Angilak project in Nunavut through the purchase of Latitude Uranium.
The company anticipates starting a significant exploration program this year, with a 10,000-meter drilling program kicking off in June. This will be complemented by airborne surveys and other initiatives aimed at uncovering additional uranium deposits and expanding known ones.
The Lac 50 deposit itself is already estimated to hold 43.3 million pounds of triuranium oxide (U3O8) with an average grade of 0.69 per cent, and historical drilling results from 2023 by Latitude Uranium point to the potential for even higher-grade uranium zones within the deposit.
ATHA Energy Corp. is a sponsor of Mugglehead news coverage
