ITER Nuclear Fusion and Engineering Project Paper Example

Introduction

Unlimited Energy! ITER main website puts it that the form of energy being developed from ITER-meaning 'the way' in Latin is the most ambitious in our century (ITER.org, 2018). It involves a plan to produce energy through fusion making it unlimited and clean. For this reason, this paper explores the engineering aspects of the project. In essence, it describes the specifics of the project in the engineering and manufacturing aspects of the new technology. The paper also looks at the potential defects and any that might cause deviation in the development process. Lastly, the implications of the project in terms of managing waste and maximizing productivity are considered.

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ITER Engineering and Manufacture Process

ITER is a major partnership between about 35 nations that is aimed at focusing on experimental endeavors to further the production of energy through nuclear fusion (USITER.org, 2018). It will be the first of its kind to produce an output of about 500MW of energy. The energy will, however, require a production unit of about 50MW (ITER.org, 2018). Essentially, the project engineering team is on the verge of designing a tenfold power production nuclear fusion project. The tenfold factor is important because the current European fusion reactor produces only 0.67 of the total energy required for production, that is Q=0.67 compared to Q=10 for the ITER reactor in development (ITER.org, 2018).

The manufacturing process of the reactor is expected to involve more than one million components. The components in the manufacture of the reactor will be housed in a piece of land measuring about 42 hectares-or the equivalent of 60 soccer fields. The toroidal field magnets to be housed in the reactor are made of 100000KM of niobium-tin [Nb3Sn] an element that was manufactured between 2009-2014 in about 9 of the countries involved these include: Korea, Europe, America, and Russia. Since the project involves heavy components to build completely, the components will be sent over one hundred kilometers of road and on heavy land vehicles. The engineering and production part of the project anticipates that the reactor will have a heating capacity of about 15Million degrees Celsius. These temperatures will facilitate fusion and are about ten times higher than the sun's core. The ITER tokamak design is expected to handle temperatures ten times higher than the sun's core. In order to handle such temperatures, the tokamak will weigh about 23000 tons when construction is finished. Its vacuum vessel and blankets will be about 8000 tons-more than 500 tons more than the Eifel tower. The tokamak will produce a thrust about 2 times that of a rocket launch. In essence, the thrust will facilitate 830 cubic meters of plasma reaction-hence the largest tokamak in the world. Most of the world's tokamaks are designed to facilitate only 100 cubic meters. Lastly, the entire ITER project has so far involved 5000 workers and is expected to include more human resources as it progresses (ITER.org, 2018).

Potential Defects and Deviations in Development

According to Nuttall of the Institute of physics, the exploration of nuclear fusion as a form of energy presents several challenges and opportunities for humanity as a whole (IOP, 2008). Consequently, the author puts it that most of the potential defects and challenges in the nuclear fusion projects such as the ITER one are mainly engineering ones rather than scientific. Essentially, the scientific aspects have gone further than the engineering ones. The main challenges in terms of defects to be faced in the ITER projects will be engineering specifications. However, there are other challenges to be expected in the ITER fusion project.

Electricity Generation for Tokamaks

Tokomaks require large amounts of energy to produce the fusion energy to be utilized. For this reason, the main defector challenge will be the initial availability of planned energy to be used in the ITER tokamak site (IOP, 2008). Planned availability would require tokomaks producing power for each other and produce clean energy at the same time.

Structural integrity

The magnetic fields produced in the fusion process, as well as the high temperatures in the reactor, causes several pulses. For this reason, the lifetime of the plant is bound to experience the strong magnetic and heat pulses. In essence, the pulses defect will affect the structural integrity of the facility over time (IOP 2004).

Energy Reliability

The forms of energy used currently have been made stable by determining the unpredictability of their supply. For this reasons, measures have been put to ensure their reliability. The main challenge with ITER type of nuclear fusion energy production is that there are not enough measures in place to ensure its reliability as a form of energy. The phenomenon is due to the volatile nature of fusion.

Helium Supply

Due to the large-scale nature of the ITER project, the helium supplies needed for the pumping and mostly cooling of the conductors is expected to be a challenge. In essence, a helium challenge is expected to affect the course of the project unless it is rectified (Feist et al., 2007).

ITER Minimization of Waste and Productivity Maximization

In order to understand fully, the implications of nuclear energy as a clean form of energy, it is necessary to understand fusion as a process. In essence, fusion is the process that the sun and stars burn on. It is energy produced when some elements fuse to produce a tremendous amount of energy. In order for the process to be replicated in the laboratory, energies of about 150000000 degrees Celsius are required. The energy produced is harnessed by a tokamak, a device specially designed to harness and distribute the fusion energy. The ITER project's first experiment will be launched in December of 2025(ITER.org, 2018).

According to an independent report done on the ITER project, the project design safety assessment first shows that the construction of the project will be possible without undue health risks to personnel. The statement shows that the magnetic energy production process is expected to be safe on the human resource aspects on the site of the project. Another consideration is the potential risks to the environment. The same report puts it that no significant effects to the environments are expected during the course and lifetime of the project. In order to solidify the risk considerations for both human health and the environment, the 35 countries involved have set up a technical base to facilitate regulatory procedures (IAEA, 2002). In essence, apart from the leaks experienced over the years, the scientific community agrees with the process of fusion as the cleanest form of energy. Consequently, ITER is expected to facilitate a tenfold increase in nuclear energy production. The 830 cubic meters of plasma volume is expected to be about 8 times more than the volumes available currently.

Conclusion

The ITER project, therefore, shows the potential for more production than is available. Essentially, the ITER project is expected to be a pioneer for more nuclear production endeavors. The power produced in the project is not yet planned for electrical energy production. The ITER project is, therefore, the first phase of more efficient and larger scale nuclear fusion energy production in the world.

References

Feist et al. (2007). Quality management for WENDELSTEIN 7-X: Lessons Learned Fusion Engineering and Design 82 2838-2843.

ITEA.org. (2018) ITEA Retrieved from https://www.iter.org/Institute of Physics, IOP (2004). The Future of Fission Power: Evolution or Revolution?

Institute of Physics, IOP (2008). Fusion as an Energy Source: Challenges and Opportunities.

International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA. (2002). ITER. Retrieved from: https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/ITER-EDA-DS-24.pdf