Tuesday, 5 November 2019

How is energy extracted from fusion?


I understand that combining deuterium and tritium will form helium and a neutron. There are three methods to do this (1) tokamak (2) lasers and (3) cold fusion. I would like to know after helium is formed. How is that energy extracted from tokamak and stored?



Answer



If you search the ITER site, ITER being the international prototype fusion reactor which will demonstrated the possibility of getting megawat useful energy from fusion, one sees that their main aim is to demonstrate this feasibility:


The main carrier of energy out of the plasma is the neutron, and methods to efficiently use this energy have not been developed yet, but wait for the commercial prototype.



The helium nucleus carries an electric charge which will respond to the magnetic fields of the tokamak and remain confined within the plasma. However, some 80 percent of the energy produced is carried away from the plasma by the neutron which has no electrical charge and is therefore unaffected by magnetic fields. The neutrons will be absorbed by the surrounding walls of the tokamak, transferring their energy to the walls as heat.



In ITER, this heat will be dispersed through cooling towers. In the subsequent fusion plant prototype DEMO and in future industrial fusion installations, the heat will be used to produce steam and—by way of turbines and alternators—electricity.



They have developed methods for cooling the system and dissipating the energy to the environment.


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