Following the example of the sun, fusion power plants aim to fuse the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium and release large amounts of energy in the process. The only plant in the world currently capable of operating with such fuel is the European joint project JET, the Joint European Torus in Culham near Oxford, UK.

However, the last experiments with the fuel for future fusion power plants were conducted there in 1997. Because tritium is a very rare raw material that also poses special handling challenges, research teams usually use hydrogen or deuterium for plasma experiments. In future power plants, tritium will be formed from lithium during energy production.

Experiments with deuterium-tritium mixtures in preparation for ITER
"We can explore the physics in fusion plasmas very well by working with hydrogen or deuterium, so this is the standard worldwide," explains IPP's Dr. Athina Kappatou, who with her IPP colleagues Dr. Philip Schneider and Dr. Jorg Hobirk led significant parts of the European collaborative experiments at JET."

However, for the transition to the international, large-scale, fusion experiment ITER, it is important that we prepare for the conditions prevailing there." ITER is currently under construction in Cadarache, in southern France, and is expected to be able to release ten times as much energy as is fed into the plasma in terms of heating energy, using deuterium-tritium fuel.

To bring the JET experiment as close as possible to future ITER conditions, the previous carbon lining of the plasma vessel was replaced by a mixture of beryllium and tungsten, as is also planned for ITER, between 2009 and 2011. The metal tungsten is more resistant than carbon, which, moreover, stores too much hydrogen.

However, the now metallic wall places new demands on the quality of the plasma control. The current experiments demonstrate the successes of the researchers: At temperatures ten times higher than those at the center of the sun, record levels of generated fusion energy have been achieved.

World record under ITER-like conditions
Prior to the change of the wall material, JET had set the world energy record in 1997 with a plasma that produced 22 megajoules of energy. This record stood until now.

"In the latest experiments, we wanted to prove that we could create significantly more energy even under ITER-like conditions," explains IPP physicist Dr. Kappatou.

Several hundred scientists and researchers were involved in years of preparation for the experiments. They used theoretical methods to calculate in advance the parameters they needed to obtain to generate the plasma in order to achieve their goals. The experiments confirmed the predictions in late 2021 and delivered a new world record: JET produced stable plasmas with deuterium-tritium fuel that released 59 megajoules of energy.

To produce net energy - that is, to release more energy than the heatering systems provide - the experimental facility is too small. This will not be possible until the larger-scale ITER experiment in southern France comes online.

"The latest experiments at JET are an important step toward ITER," concludes Prof. Sibylle Gunter, Scientific Director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. "What we have learned in the past months will make it easier for us to plan experiments with fusion plasmas that generate much more energy than is needed to heat them."

Related Links
Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com

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Scientists in Britain smash fusion energy record
Abingdon, United Kingdom (AFP) Feb 9, 2022
Scientists in Britain said Wednesday they have smashed a previous record for generating fusion energy, an achievement hailed a "milestone" on the protracted path towards harnessing a power source considered cheap and clean. Nuclear fusion is the same process that the sun uses to generate heat and proponents believe it could one day help address climate change by providing an abundant, safe and green source of energy. A team at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility near Oxford in central Englan ... read more