2nd International Conference on Nuclear & Renewable Energy Resources 4-7 July 2010, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey Nuclear Fusion Energy- Mankind’s Giant Step Forward Sing Lee 1,2,3*& Sor Heoh Saw 1,2 1Institute for Plasma Focus Studies, 32 Oakpark Drive, Chadstone, VIC 3148, Australia 2INTI University College, 71800 Nilai, Malaysia 3Nanyang Technology University, National Institute of Education, Singapore 637616 e-mails: leesing@optusnet.com.au; sorheoh.saw@newinti.edu.my

CONTENT Energy as the most basic of resources Correlation of energy consumption & wealth Exponential growth of population & energy consumption per capita-unsustainable Human progress is limited unless a new clean energy source is developed Nuclear Fusion Energy- Man’s giant step forward Scenario for Mankind’s Future-with Fusion Energy

The most basic resource of Mankind is energy With energy food can be grown, manufactured, processed With energy, materials can be mined, manufactured, processed With energy, infrastructure can be built to provide transport, communication, health and education With energy, Man can explore further afield, to the far corners of the Earth even to extra-terrestrial destinations With energy, life can be more comfortable, more in conformity with Man as a civilised creature Not surprisingly, there is close correlation between the wealth of a country and its energy consumption per capita.

Close correlation between economic wealth and energy consumption per capita-2006.[2]

Trends in population growth and energy per capita consumption growth AD 1500 World population (estimated) 450 million AD 1900 1.6 billion [1] End 2009 6.8 billion. Past 100 years world population grew 4 times, whilst energy consumption grew 10 times. Thus energy consumption grew faster than population growth; in other words energy consumption per head grew more than 2 times. This trend of per capita energy consumption growth will continue as the rest of the world attempts to catch up with the best standard of living in the world.

Exponential Growth of Population and Energy Consumption Past 100 years the doubling time of world population was 50 years whilst the doubling time of energy consumption was 30 years. Were this trend to continue, world population would reach 27 billion in another hundred years whilst energy consumption would increase another 10 times.

Exponential Growth is Unsustainable Unsustainable; as the world is already near the critical point when supply of energy barely meets the demand. Energy resources are limited and supply trends are estimated to peak in a few short decades from now. This realisation underlies demographers’ projections that world population growth must slow down in the near future.

Estimates of world energy production projected into the future in a scenario [3]

World population and projection

Current Debate misses the Point The current debates on the unsustainability of population growth energy consumption trends and degradation of the environment are important in raising public awareness but Does not address the fundamental problem.

We need one giant bold step To safeguard Mankind’s unimpeded progress incremental moves are not enough We need one giant bold step – Development of a new limitless source of energy Clean non-polluting energy which will not further aggravate the environment.

Present Energy Resources not sufficient All energy resources are being depleted by the exponential growth of population and of average world per capita consumption New energy resources are not being developed fast enough Renewables are too diffused: low energy collection density and poor net energy output; projection of renewables do not show the ability to sustain historical rates of human population growth combined with growth of per capita consumption.

Incremental Steps Important but not Sufficient- New Source needed What Mankind needs is not small increments extracted from energy conservationism or diffuse renewables What Mankind needs is one Giant Step A new clean limitless energy source

Once-in-History Development This is not a pipe dream 5 decades of research has gone into the processes of controlling nuclear fusion on earth The stage is set for this energy revolution-this once in history development

STARS Nature’s Plasma Fusion Reactors

STARS Nature’s Plasma Fusion Reactors And a dream lies on the river And a glamour veils the night Whilst above the white stars quiver With Fusion Burning-bright (adapted from Ciribiribin)

Tokamak-planned nuclear fusion reactor

Magnetic Yoke to induce Plasma Current Field Coils to Produce suitable Magnetic Field Configuration

What is a Plasma? Matter heated to high temperatures becomes a Plasma Four States of Matter SOLID LIQUID GAS PLASMA

Characteristics of Plasma State Presence of electrons and ions Electrically conducting Interaction with electric & magnetic fields Control of ions & electrons: applications High energy densities/selective particle energies -Cold plasmas: several eV’s; (1eV~104K) -Hot plasmas: keV’s ; (1keV~107K) Most of matter in Universe is in the Plasma State (e.g. the STARS)

Collisions in a Plasma The hotter the plasma is heated, the more energetic are the collisions

Nuclear Fusion If a Collision is sufficiently energetic, nuclear fusion will occur

Isotopes of hydrogen- Fuel of Fusion

Release of energy in Fusion 1H2 + 1H3 2He4 + 0n1 + 17.6 MeV

Natural Fusion Reactors vs Fusion Experiments on Earth

JET (Joint European Torus) Project successfully completed 2000; reached Q=0.6, better than planned [Q is ratio of fusion energy generated/input energy to start and heat the plasma]

Inside JET

Conversion of mass into Energy

Fusion Energy Equivalent 50 cups water 1 thimble heavy water, extracted from 50 cups of water

Summary of Conditions Technological Targets: T> 100 million K (10keV) nt>1021 m-3-sec n=1020 m-3, confined t=10s

Energy confinement time t scales as some functions of: Plasma current I Major Radius R Minor radius ‘a’ Toroidal Magnetic Field B scaling law: t~Ipa Rb ag Bl indices a,b,g,l all positive To achieve sufficient value of ntT requires: scaling of present generation of Tokamaks upwards in terms of: I R, ‘a’ and B

Fusion Temperature attained Fusion confinement one step away

International Collaboration to develop Nuclear Fusion Energy-ITER 1985- Geneva Superpower Summit: Reagan (US) & Gorbachev (Soviet Union) agreed on project to develop new cleaner, sustainable source of energy- Fusion energy ITER project was born Initial signatories: former Soviet Union, USA, European Union (via EURATOM) & Japan Joined by P R China & R Korea in 2003 & India 2005 ITER Agreement- signed in November 2006

ITER Construction has now started in Cadarache, France First plasma planned 2018 First D-T planned 2022

ITER A more detailed drawing

ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)

Cooling and Heat Transfer

Q>10 and Beyond Q ≥ 10 represents the scientific goal of ITER : ITER : to demonstrate: possible to produce commercial energy from fusion. Q= ratio of fusion power to input power. Q ≥ 10 represents the scientific goal of ITER : to deliver 10x the power it consumes. From 50 MW input power to 500 MW of fusion power - first fusion experiment to produce net energy. Beyond ITER will be DEMO (early 2030’s), demonstration fusion power plant which will put fusion power into the grid as early as 2040

Potential Next Step Fusion Burning Experiments

Unlimited clean energy supply no need to restrict the growth of energy consumption, a better standard of living or the growth of population. Figure: energy consumption into the 22nd century. Such unlimited growth (curve 2 of Figure) need not imply unbridled wasteful consumption. The best practice of environmental conservatism could be incorporated into growth, so that efficient and ‘green’ habits become part of the sustained culture of the human race.

Figure: Scenario Development of nuclear fusion energy is coming not a moment too soon. The critical point when total available energy starts to decline is seen to be reached just before the middle of this century; Thereafter the consumption curve has to drop (curve 1) & Man will have to cope with a decreasing supply unless the increasing shortfall is made up by nuclear fusion energy (curve 2)

How fast can we expect the take-up of nuclear fusion energy? Example: Use History of the uptake of nuclear fission energy for our scenario time-line. The first commercial fission power station installed at Calder Hall, UK, 1956 with 50 MW. By 1960 1 GW was installed. By the late 70’s the installed nuclear fission power world-wide had reached 100 GW. From 1 GW to 100 GW in some 18 years (10-fold increase evry 9 years)

Example: Growth of Fission Energy 70’s and 80’s, pressure-group litigation & rising costs of fission reactors due to regulatory changes and falling fossil fuel prices made fission plants less attractive The industry slowed down so that by the late 80’s installed fission power had only grown to 300 GW and by 2005 only to 370 GW, supplying some: 15% of the world’s electricity consumption and 2.1% of total power consumption.

Using the History of the Development of Nuclear Fission Power Plants as Example for our Scenario Time-line: Scenario of our Figure assumes an installed 1 GW of commercial nuclear fusion power plant in 2050 Growing 10-fold every 9 years for 27 years to 1000 GW by 2077 and then slower growth (10-fold in 23 years) to 10000 GW by 2100; thereafter tripling every 50 years. (present long-term average) This is not unreasonable. By 2050 the world would know with a certainty the desperation of its energy position

The Scenario-with Fusion Energy Just into the next century fusion energy will take up the slack and allow Mankind to continue its progress and growth (curve 2, available energy, with fusion energy). The scenario shows that there will be several decades when the constraints of energy shortage will be severely felt. Note the flattening of the energy consumption from around 2040 to 2100. (curve 2, with fusion energy) . Such a period of stagnation in energy and corresponding stagnation in world population (curve 4 showing world population scenario, with fusion energy) seems unavoidable even with the development and rapid adoption of fusion energy. Without fusion energy the scenario is as shown by the curve 1, depicting a severe downturn in the fortunes of Mankind with world population dropping below 5 billion (curve 3, world population scenario, without fusion energy).

Human Spirit Knows No Bound The human spirit, its will to explore, to always seek new frontiers, the next Everest, deeper ocean floors, the inner secrets of the atom: Iconised into human consciousness by the deeds of Christopher Columbus, Edmund Hillary, Jacques Costeau, and Albert Einstein.

In the background of the ever-expanding universe Mankind’s boundless spirit will be curbed by a limitation to growth That was never meant to be That should never be so

Mankind’s Giant Step- Dawning of the Fusion age Man should have an unlimited destiny To reach for the moon, as he already has then to colonize it for its resources Likewise to reach for the planets Ultimately-the stars Man’s spirit must and will remain indomitable

Conclusion In this paper we have discussed: Energy as the most basic of resources Correlation of energy consumption & wealth Exponential growth of population & energy consumption per capita-unsustainable Human progress is limited unless a new clean energy source is developed Nuclear Fusion Energy- Man’s giant step forward Scenario for Mankind’s Future-with Fusion Energy

2nd International Conference on Nuclear & Renewable Energy Resources 4-7 July 2010, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey Nuclear Fusion Energy- Mankind’s Giant Step Forward Sing Lee 1,2,3*& Sor Heoh Saw 1,2 1Institute for Plasma Focus Studies, 32 Oakpark Drive, Chadstone, VIC 3148, Australia 2INTI University College, 71800 Nilai, Malaysia 3Nanyang Technology University, National Institute of Education, Singapore 637616 e-mails: leesing@optusnet.com.au; sorheoh.saw@newinti.edu.my

Thank You