Nuclear fusion, the mechanism that powers the sun, is now reportedly one step closer to being understood by scientists thanks to a 3D visualization produced by one of the top laboratories in the world.
(Photo : Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Guests await the beginning of a news conference with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at the Department of Energy headquarters to announce a breakthrough in fusion research on December 13, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Presented to the public as a voyage around a ring of pyrotechnics, the visualization is a hypothetical future nuclear fusion energy source created in the Laboratory for Experimental Museology (EM+) at Swiss EPFL.
The sun's nuclear fusion process holds great promise as a clean, abundant energy source. The complex technology required to harness this power, such as tokamaks and doughnut-shaped reactors, is a testament to the potential of this energy source.
Understanding the intricate plasma behavior in reactors is a crucial step towards producing sustainable nuclear fusion energy. The complexity of this task underscores the magnitude of the scientific challenge we face.
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3D Visualization Details
Software developed by EM+ combined the terabytes of data produced by tokamak simulations into a seamless 3D visualization. Similarly, the data was successfully transformed into a 3D viewing experience at EPFL's Swiss Plasma Center (SPC).
But for scientists, it's a valuable instrument that helps them grasp the results of their computations and makes the complex processes of quantum physics comprehensible (EPFL).
With a height of 4 meters and a circumference of 10 meters, the three-dimensional panorama provides fantastic details of the inside of EPFL's variable-configuration tokamak (TCV).
According to EPFL, this 3D representation of the nuclear fusion process produces a stunning set of realistic visuals.
The injection system that feeds particles into the tokamak and the graphite tiles that can survive temperatures over 100 million degrees Celsius are visible to the audience.
To give viewers a sense of scale, the reactor is roughly twice as large as the human figure shown in the depiction. The simulation gets more intense, making the viewer feel tiny as many particles fly by, chasing, twirling, and swirling around one another.
The depiction shows protons in green, electrons in red, and the magnetic field in blue lines. Users can adjust any parameter to observe a particular reactor part from a selected angle, producing a nearly perfect depiction.
Nuclear Power Development
While scientists now understand nuclear fusion more, the United States, on the other hand, is still playing catch-up with China in terms of nuclear power development.
China's fast progress in nuclear energy is credited to its strategic state-backed approach and significant financial investments, which have given Chinese firms a competitive advantage over their Western counterparts, according to a June 18 report from the US-based research institute Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.
China is currently at the forefront of the world's nuclear energy movement, having built 27 nuclear reactors at a rate significantly faster than other countries, with an average construction time of about seven years for each reactor.
The nation has set lofty goals to build 150 additional nuclear reactors between 2020 and 2035. China claims to have independently produced roughly 90% of the necessary technology for the world's first fourth-generation atomic reactor, whose operational debut represents a significant turning point in the country's history.
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