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ITER : The Next Step for Fusion Power

December 8, 2005. Parliament of Australia Standing Committee on Industry and Resources. ITER : The Next Step for Fusion Power. Dr Boyd Blackwell Australian National University. Dr Matthew Hole Australian National University. Prof John O’Connor The University of Newcastle.

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ITER : The Next Step for Fusion Power

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  1. December 8, 2005. Parliament of Australia Standing Committee on Industry and Resources ITER : The Next Step for Fusion Power Dr Boyd Blackwell Australian National University Dr Matthew Hole Australian National University Prof John O’Connor The University of Newcastle

  2. The University of Sydney AUSTRALIA THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY FLINDERS UNIVERSITY ADELAIDE  AUSTRALIA controlled fusion as an energy source UNIVERSITY OF CANBERRA Australian Nuclear Science &Tec. Org. Australian Ins. of Nuclear Science & Eng. Who are the Australian ITER Forum? • Scientists and engineers from multiple research disciplines / institutes supporting a mission orientated goal : • Institution list is growing….

  3. What is fusion ? Controlled fusion : Deuterium, Tritium are hydrogen isotopes. Millions of years of fuel can be extracted from water Energy gain: 450:1 Comparison of Energy Release per reaction : Fusion (D2 + T3  He4+ n ) 17,600,000 units Fission (U235 + nXe134+ Sr100 + n) 200,000,000 units Coal (C6H2 + 6.5 O26 CO2+ H 20) 30 units Units are electron volts

  4. Fusion : a safe route to nuclear power Fusion power requires: • High Temperature(Ti) 100 Million °C • High density(nD) • Long confinement time(τE) “Magnetic Bottle” Controlled Fusion “Magnetic confinement” use of magnetic fields to confine a plasma : e.g. tokamak Fusion is NOT a chain reaction • No meltdown • Not useful as a weapon (magnetically confined fusion) Environmentally/politically friendly: • Minimal greenhouse gas emissions • No long term radioactive waste • Abundant fuel (water)

  5. Low level waste, compared to fission Figure 1: Comparison of fission and fusion radioactivity after decommissioning Present ferritic technology allows a reduction of >3,000 over 100 years 100% recycling is possible after 100 years Using future Vanadium alloy structures, fusion is 1,000,000x less radioactive after 30 years than fission. http://fi.neep.wisc.eduhttp://www.ofes.fusion.doe.gov

  6. Conservatively estimated Earth fuel reserves are : ~ 10,000 years of D-T, ~ millions ofyears of D-D Fuels are abundant, Australia has raw materials Fuels: • Deuterium: “unlimited” – 1 litre tap water  800 litres oil • Tritium: bred from Lithium: > 10,000 years supply Australia has 4%* of world’s resource. Advanced Materials: • Vanadium, Tantalum, Niobium, Zirconium Australia has considerable mineral resources Opportunity for technology development/Value Added *Australian Government, Geoscience Australia, 2005. T. J. Dolan, Fus. Res., 2000

  7. Fusion power plant designs Final Report of the European Fusion Power Plant Conceptual Design Study, April 13, 2005

  8. ITER Fusion progress exceeds Moore’s law scaling Fusion progress comparison to # CPU transistors per unit area Figure 2: Progress of fusion research

  9. Plasma conditions Total Fusion power 500MW Magnetic field 5.3 Tesla Plasma Volume 837 m3 Q = power out/ power in ~10 Auxillary heating, current drive 73MW Major,minor radius 6.2m, 2.0m Ip, plasma current 15MA <Ti> 80106 °C ITER : “the way”

  10. ITER Objectives and Consortium • Objectives Programmatic : demonstrate fusion energy for peaceful purposes Physics: “Grand Challenge” burning plasma science Technology : integrated operation and materials testing • ITER is a growing consortium of nations and alliances under the auspices of the IAEA. Current members include European Union, USA, China, Korea, Japan, Russia and now India (Dec. 6). • ITER is one of the world’s largest science projects. • Construction / 10 year operation costs : ~ AUD$10bn / $6bn • Highest funding priority of the worlds’ largest physical sciences research body (US, Dep. Of Energy).

  11. Fusion development time-scales Scope of Australian Government Energy White paper (2004) 2005 2020 2050 2010 2015 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 today’s experiments ITER materials testing facility (IFMIF) demonstration power-plant (DEMO) commercial power-plants R &D on alternative concepts and advanced materials Source: Accelerated development of fusion power. I. Cook et al. 2005

  12. Fusion science needs to be a national research priority. Australian has strong expertise in fusion 1934 Sir Mark Oliphant discovers He3+, T, and D-D reaction 1946 Toroidal confinement system research pioneers: Peter Thonemann (Australian) and Sir George Thomson (UK) 1958 Sir Mark Oliphant commences plasma physics research at ANU 1964 – now : Fusion plasma research at ANU, UNSW, Flinders University, Sydney University and ANSTO To preserve and grow …

  13. Benefits and Opportunities Benefits to Australia • Energy supply and security • Near-term economic and political benefits • Science and technology benefits • Training and retention of skills • Responding to climate change • Fostering international research links • Scientific credibility • Enhance Australia’s position in the IAEA Resources, Processing, Value Adding • Large resources of rare metals (eg Li, V, Ta) for construction and fuelling • Development of new technologies and processes.

  14. Renewable energy Fusion power offers: • base-load replacement to fossil fuels • high energy-density supply, powering cities & industry • power grid stability • zero nuclear proliferation • very low level radioactive waste • universal accessibility of fuel Fusion is part of a low C02 energy solution Figure 3: Past and future Australian electricity sources Plus… Source: Australian Government Energy White paper

  15. 1 – Australia negotiates a subscription to ITER as a matter of urgency. 2 – A national or international centre be established to consolidate Australia’s research efforts in fusion related research Fusion – clean, safe nuclear power for the future“bottling the sun” RECOMMENDATIONS

  16. Annual Radiation Dose Source (in microsieverts) Living within 10km of a coal fired power plant Living within 10km Nuclear power plant ~ 2000 microsieverts per annum Medical and Travel What you eat What is in you Where you live

  17. Mineral Australian EDR 1 (% world ) Australian TOTAL 2 Fuel Lithium (Li) 170 kT (4.1%) 257 kT Vanadium (V) 2586 kT (19.9 %) 5061 kT Structural Tantalum (Ta) 53 kT (94.6 %) 154.2 kT Titanium (Ti) 3 80.7 kT (21.5%) 158.7 kT Zirconium (Zr) 3 14.9 kT (40.5%) 40.9 kT Super-conductor Niobium (Ni) 194 kT (4.3%) 2147 kT Fusion Relevant Minerals 1 Economic Demonstrated Resource 2 demonstrated plus inferred resources 3 inferred from mineral sand deposits Source: Australian Government, Geosciences Australia, 2005

  18. Fusion – clean, safe nuclear power for the future“bottling the sun” Fusion Base-load energy generation yes High energy density yes Power grid stability yes Nuclear non proliferation yes Radioactive waste 100 years Universal accessibility of fuel yes Terrorist Potential low Large scale availability ~50 years

  19. Australian standard of living tracks energy use primary energy consumption : 1903-1973: Australian Historical Records 1974-1995 Australian Bureau of Agricultural and resource Economics GDP : 1901-1963, Portrait of the Family in the Total Economy, Snooks G.D. 1974-1995 Australian Bureau of Agricultural and resource Economics (Australian Commodity Statistics)

  20. Australia is the most CO2 polluting nation on Earth. 1998 Per capita greenhouse emissions for selected industrial nations Source: Hamilton and Turton 2002

  21. Fusion power will be economically competitive internal costs: costs of constructing, fuelling, operating, and disposing of power stations 0.001 $ / kWhr external costs: “estimated” impact costs to the environment, public and worker health, Prospects for fusion electricity, I. Cook et al. Fus. Eng. & Des. 63-34, pp25-33, 2002

  22. The estimated development cost for fusion energy is essentially unchanged since 1980

  23. Economic / Scientific Spin-offs Solar Thermal Collector Materials Hydrogen Storage ITER First Wall Materials Science Aerospace Applications MHD Coal Energy Project 700oC Steam Project

  24. Reaction cross-section • To achieve adequate output to produce ongoing energy production we need • High Temperature(Ti) 100 Million °C • High number density(nD) • Long confinement time(τE) “Magnetic Bottle” 100 million °C • “Lawson” ignition criterion : Fusion power > heat loss Fusion triple product nDETi>3  1021 m-3 keV s Conditions for fusion power • To achieve fusion products need to be heated to 100 million degrees. • At these extreme conditions matter exists in the plasma state

  25. Progress in magnetically confined fusion Joint European Torus : 1983 -

  26. A responsible low C02 emission energy future requires investment in a blend of nuclear + renewable power technologies Fusion – bottling the sun safely…

  27. Abundance 1 part in ~10,000 in water Manufactured: Li+n→ He + T (produced inside reactor) Australia: 217,000T World: 4,110,000T Fuels and raw materials abundant Energy lifetimes Deuterium Tritium Lithium • Estimated Earth fuel reserves are : ~ millions years of D-T, ~ billionyears of D-D Australian Government, Geoscience Australia, 2005. T. J. Dolan, Fus. Res., 2000

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