Researchers make groundbreaking discovery in pursuit of near-limitless energy device: 'It may be possible'

A team of nuclear fusion researchers is trying to bring order to electron movement inside reactors. It's not an easy task, as the scene's description sounds akin to shoppers during a Black Friday sale. 

A news release described them as "high-energy" particles impacting parts of the reactor simultaneously.

"Runaway electrons are one of the most serious challenges facing future fusion power plants," said Auburn University doctoral candidate Jessica Eskew, who is working on the project through a fellowship program.

The effort is based at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego. It's a Department of Energy installation operated by General Atomics. The goal is to have a pilot fusion power plant operating by the 2040s, according to DIII-D.

If successful, experts will have delivered a nearly limitless energy source without air pollution, long-lasting nuclear waste, or meltdown threats. (The former is a risk associated with coal, oil, and gas, while the latter two are risks associated with nuclear fission.)

By developing a game plan to manage the electron flow, the experts could prevent failures that cost millions of dollars at future plants, Interesting Engineering reported.

Fusion energy combines atoms during intense collisions inside reactors, where swirling plasma reaches temperatures higher than those of the sun, according to the DOE. By comparison, nuclear fission, happening inside the world's 440 reactors, splits atoms to produce 9% of global electricity, the World Nuclear Association says. 

Fusion researchers have struggled to sustain a reaction that uses less energy than it takes to create. What's more, experiments are massively expensive — costing billions of dollars, RealClearEnergy reports. 

At DIII-D, the team intends to bring order to chaotic particle movement as electrons move at near-light speed with extreme heat. As a result, the particles can damage the side of the reactor. The solution being eyed by the researchers involves magnetic islands, or tube-like structures that form during magnetic field disruptions inside the reactor. It's a phenomenon that, to this point, was written off as a nuisance. But it might in fact provide an effective "escape route" for the electrons to exit in a well-organized stream, instead of by bombardment, according to the release. 

"By controlling the plasma's magnetic structure, especially how magnetic islands split and reorganize, it may be possible to intentionally release these electrons in a controlled way, rather than allowing them to strike plasma-facing components all at once within the fusion device," Eskew explained. 

The team intends to continue studying how magnetic fields behave inside of reactors to build one that is rugged enough for long-term operation. The research could benefit work at DIII-D, the largest fusion experiment in the United States, as well as the international ITER experiment in France, per the release. 

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Fusion's potential has inspired scientists in labs around the world to invest in expensive research. On the other hand, experts at Colorado energy think tank RMI said that development costs for wind and solar continue to fall, making renewable energy sources attractive. For its part, solar can be leveraged on a household level to lower utility bills and secure cheap, abundant electricity via the sun while energy rates nationwide increase. 

"It's time to rethink our electricity supply in the name of affordability, not volatility," RMI's Will Atkinson wrote. 

In the meantime, the DIII-D team plans to continue studying how to successfully commercialize fusion energy. 

"Simply put, fusion has the potential to serve as the basis of a new and extremely advantageous source of clean and reliable energy for humanity," per the project website.

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