Dreaming of a world of unlimited energy is practically a utopia for any human being, right? Well, now we raise the level of difficulty, can you imagine a world where clean energy is unlimited? Where there are no polluting emissions and humans do not depend on fossil fuels, perhaps we are talking about an ideal world, or pure science fiction. But not for France, because France has taken a step forward to get a little closer to this reality, and that is, French scientists have achieved something that has left us perplexed: maintaining a nuclear fusion reaction for 22 minutes! Does that seem like little to you? It is a history for the path to sustainability! We will tell you about it below to clear up all your doubts.

What was the experiment about?

It was the WEST Tokamak, a reactor operated by the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA). The most important thing about this experiment was that they followed the same process of nuclear reactions and fusions that occur in the Sun (and the sun doesn’t waste itself, right?). Well, the same could be transferred to our Earth, an inexhaustible source of energy that continues to be produced without generating any type of gas in the atmosphere.

But why is it revolutionary if it only lasts 22 minutes?

Because any nuclear fusion reaction is a great challenge, imagine maintaining it for 22 minutes in a stable manner. In this case, the CEA team achieved 1,337 seconds (22 minutes and 17 seconds), surpassing the previous record of 1,066 seconds, set by China.

How does it work?

Imagine you want to light a bonfire. The easiest way is to gather a couple of sticks and light it. But if you want the fire to sustain itself and generate heat, you’ll need more wood. But what if you needed it to keep producing heat forever without being consumed?

Well, something similar happens with nuclear fusion. Getting atoms to join together isn’t difficult, it’s something that scientists can do in a laboratory without any problem, but the real challenge comes when they need that reaction to continue to occur on its own and to produce more energy than is spent in starting it.

In addition, for this to happen, three essential ingredients are needed:

High temperatures (up to 150 million ºC) like in the center of the sun.

Very high pressures of about five to ten times the air pressure on Earth.

A super hot and stable plasma, which must be kept under control for at least ten seconds.

So, once these three difficult-to-obtain ingredients are obtained, scientists have to investigate ways to keep these chemical reactions happening, and that is where they continue to rack their brains.

The novelty

If we focus on the plasma, it must be confined and controlled with magnetic fields in a special reactor called a Tokamak. If it touches the walls of the reactor, it cools down and the reaction stops, which is where the work of the French has come in, as they have tried to show that the plasma can remain stable for long periods of time without damaging the reactor.

But… how does this translate into energy efficiency?

This design is not intended to generate electricity by itself, but to test technologies that can come closer to achieving clean energy. There is still a long way to go and a lot of research to be carried out for this to be feasible and to be able to extend it to other sectors of the population. But, if there is one thing that is clear, it is that we are facing a very revolutionary step in terms of clean energy for the history of humanity!