THE STAR ON THE EARTH

Surendra Vissapragada III.Btech., (surendra335@gmail.com) 09885444275

Suresh Moturi III.Btech., (sureshmoturi357@gmail.com) 09912205039

Department of Mechanical Engineering B.V.C.Engineering college. Odalarevu.

Paper Submitted at the national level Technical Symposium. to be held at S.R.K.R Engineering College

BHIMAVARAM

THE STAR ON THE EARTH (Could Experimental Thermo Nuclear Reactor Save The World From Peak Oil) ABSTRACT: The investment community is familiar with the threat posed by 'Peak Oil', What investors, and those who ponder the future of cheap energy might not be aware of is an international project at the experimental stage called the "International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)," that could supply "enough electricity to last the world for the next 1,000 years." Indeed, the word ITER means "the way" in Latin. THE INTERNATIONAL Thermonuclear Energy Reactor (ITER), an international project involving countries conducting research on controlled thermonuclear fusion, could provide mankind with an unlimited source of energy. Some people compare it to an artificial sun, whose internal temperature can reach 150 million degrees C. However, the sun that shines for all of us has a temperature of only 20 million degrees C. "Mankind is lucky to have accomplished this objective". . ITER will be the second largest science project in the History after the International space station . Indias induction is an acknowledgement of its advanced nuclear technology , including in the field of fusion research. The projected cost for project is Rs-25000 crore , and the reactor is to be built in 10 years. The project aims to produce electricity on the same principle as the sun .In terms of physics and huge amounts of Energy involved., the ITER project would be akin to build a star on Earth. It would be the first fusion device to produce thermal energy at the level of conventional electricity producing power stations and would pave the way for the first prototype commercial power station In a fussion reaction Energy is produced when light atoms the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritiuim-are fused together to form heavier atoms.To use the controlled fussion reactions on Earth as an Energy source, it is necessary to heat a gas to temperatures exceeding 100 million Celsius many times hotter than the center of the SUN. The technical requirements are immense .But the rewards ,if ITER can be made to work successfully ,are extremely attractive. One Kg of fussion fuel would produce the same amount of Energy as 10,000,000 Kg of the fossil fuel . Fussion does produce radioactive waste ,but not the volumes of long- term high-level radiotoxic materials that have so burdened nuclear fission

INTRODUCTION:

There is an awareness of the possibility that the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will change the climate on the earth. If the amount of carbon dioxide doubles, it is anticipated that the temperature of the atmosphere at the earth's surface will rise 2 to 5 degrees Celsius. One solution is to plant forest on a wide area of the earth in order to absorb more carbon dioxide.

It is well known that carbon dioxide is released by burning fossil fuel. It is also known that the remaining lifetime of the earth is 5 billion years. Our generation has to guarantee an energy resource is available for coming long, long time period, because we have already consumed much. In the case of nuclear fission breeder reactor consuming Thorium and Uranium, it is possible to supply the energy for one million years. But this technology has not been fully developed yet. In the case of solar energy, it is difficult to construct such large systems. Another problem seems to be the uneven distribution of petroleum deposits. While we have enough energy resources, other new resources should be developed.

Advantages of Nuclear fusion over Nuclear fission:. 1. The amount of carbon dioxide released by nuclear fusion seems to be equal to or less than by nuclear fission. 2. By using D(deuterium) &T(tritium) as nuclear fusion fuel, we can continue to supply the world's energy for 16 million years. 3. When fusion reactors using D(deuterium)& D(deuterium) as nuclear fusion fuel can be developed, the energy supply will continue without time limitation because Deuterium can be obtained from seawater. 4. To realize nuclear fusion power generation, some large development steps are needed.

Concept: ITER is the experimental step between todays studies of plasma physics and tomorrow's electricity-producing fusion power plants. It is based around a hydrogen plasma torus operating at over 100 million C, and will produce 500 megawatts of fusion power. "ITER seeks to mimic the way the sun produces energy, potentially providing an inexhaustible source of low-cost energy using seawater as fuel. ITER would have an advantage over current nuclear reactors because it would be cleaner. It would not rely on enriched uranium fuel and it would not produce plutonium, which is a concern from a terrorism point of view." A leading scientist involved with the project said yesterday "If we can really make this work, there will be enough electricity to last the world for the next 1,000 to 2,000 years. So it is really quite important but quite difficult to do it." He went on to compare the level of complexity involved to "landing a man on the moon." Optimists and believers in human advancement will note that this was achieved decades ago. ITER boils down the aspirations for the project in simple terms. Controlled nuclear fusion promises: To be environmentally benign; To be widely applicable; To be essentially inexhaustible.

That promise must be demonstrated on ITER and by all future plants. In the Joint Declaration of the nations involved, issued from Moscow, the collaborators on the project emphasize "the importance of exploring the long-term potential of fusion energy as a virtually limitless, environmentally acceptable and economically competitive source of energy" and also that the governments involved are "mindful of the critical importance of safe and reliable implementation of the construction, operation and decommissioning phases of ITER, including for the purpose of demonstrating safety and advancing the social acceptability of fusion as an energy source." The nuclear fussion or nuclear fission reactions are demonistrated by Einsteins famous equation E=mc^2: What does E= mc^2 really mean: Matter and Energy are independent physical realities ;and matter has been thought to be indestructible. Obviously the implication of inter convertibility was ground breaking. Even those who believed in this remote possibility were startled looking at magnitudes involved in the conversion . The value of C=2.99792*10^8m/s and that of C ^2 =8.976*10^16 . On multiplying this with mass anoromous amount of Energy results. The structure of ITER: The structure of the ITER Facility is composed of the following main components. -Blanket for neutron shield and breeding of tritium -Divertor to control impurity of alasma -Vacuum Vessel to keep high vacuum for plasma and to enclose radioactive materials -Center Solenoid Coil to initiate and maintain plasma current -Toroidal Field Coil for magnetic eonfinement of plasma -Poloidal Field Coil to control shape and position of plasma These components are to be fabricated and supplied by participating countries in the ITER Project. ITER Code Project From a viewpoint of structural integrity of ITER components, an important technical requirement is to maintain a high vacuum condition for operation by taking into consideration the electro-magnetic load applied on the Vacuum Vessel and pulse loads caused from disruption of the plasma. In addition, the Vacuum Vessel has a fabrication difficulty resulting from one-side fillet welding to connect 18 sectors of the shell.

To enable construction and inspection of components of the ITER Facility, the current codes and standards system is insufficient to assure the quality and integrity of ITER structures and a new system is being prepared. Objectives and Specifications : To confine plasma, high magnetic field produced by superconducting magnets is needed. The target of the magnet R&D program in EDA is to establish magnet technology to a level that will allow the ITER magnets to be built with engineering confidence. The main objectives of the model coils are to obtain experience in fabrication and assembly and to test the coils in ITER relevant operating conditions in terms of magnetic field, temperature and mechanical stresses. The test will validate the key aspects of the ITER magnet design concepts and performance margins for the conductor. In addition to the model coils, three insert coils, which will be installed in the bore of the CSMC, are being fabricated using each kind of conductor in ITER. Testing of these insert coils will provide detailed characterization of the performance of conductors. A detailed test program is under development, together with instrumentation design for the coils and facilities. Testing of the CSMC will be carried out in test facilities at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute(JAERI). [1] The CSMC is layer wound with an inner diameter of 1.6 m, an outer diameter of 3.6 m and a winding height of 2.8 m. The CSMC will produce a 13 T magnetic field with a 46 kA conductor current. The CSMC consists of two nested modules (total 18 layers) and is capable of accepting each single layer insert coil. The inner module is being fabricated by US Home Team and the outer module by Japan Home Team(JAHT). [1] Current Status of R&D : The outer module of the CSMC is under fabrication in Japan. It is composed of eight-layer windings, adopting "two in hand winding method". The outer diameter and weight are 3618 mm and around 50 tons, respectively. The conductor adopts a thick jacket made of Incoly908 with a square external cross-section (46 mm x 46 mm) and a circular hole for the superconducting cable. Trial windings by using dummy conductors and short jacket samples were performed to study deformation characteristics of the real conductors during winding process. Based on these R&D results, the winding technique was developed where the winding condition is normalized for each layer with different radius. Conductor winding for the outer module has been successfully completed Activation heat treatment was one of the critical issues, due to its high sensitivity to oxygen, resulting in the cracks (so called as Stress Accelerated Grain Boundary Oxidation) of the conduit when heated up to 927 K. Therefore, a careful heat treatment system and procedure were developed and its feasibility was demonstrated by the successful heat treatment of the 6 layers that has already been done. Temperature of the

winding was kept within +/-3.5 K around 923 K and oxygen concentration at the outlet of the furnace was less than 0.04 PPM. To establish the fuel system technology of the fusion reactor, following R&D activities are in progress: Tritium processing technology R&D Fuel cleanup isotope separation recovery from the breeder blanket Tritium safety technology R&D Tritium confinement and removal Tritium accountancy Tritium-material interaction

design a divertor that will tolerate the enormous power in the form of energetic plasma incident on the strike plates limit damage to the divertor, to th Tritium behavior in a room and environment e vacuum-chamber walls and to the structure from large disruption and halo-current effects limit microscopic and macroscopic plasma instability in the proposed operating regime access the required plasma density range accommodate advanced tokamak concepts in the finished machine. Other technical challenges include how to construct the largest of the superconducting coils on-site, maintain magnetic field errors below the extremely stringent locked-mode threshold and limit eddy-current heating of the superconducting coils. Yet another concern is the immense emphasis on conventional tokamak design. It is true that the magnetically confined plasmas most closely approaching fusion conditions have been produced in tokamaks. But an eventual fusion reactor will likely look very different. Proceeding with ITER may not only preempt funding for alternative concepts, but also could freeze reactor design and engineering at a premature stage Players: The United States, the 25-member European Union, Russia, China, Japan and Korea are the major players collaborating on ITER. The Boston Globe reported that "The planned $13 billion project is one of the most prestigious and expensive international scientific efforts ever launched." " Japan and France, backed by roughly equal factions in the consortium planning the project, had competed fiercely for the prestige and economic benefits of hosting the project. But Tokyo agreed to a compromise: The fusion reactor is to be sited at Cadarache, near Marseille in southern France, while Japan will have the next-largest role

in the project. Cadarache has one of the biggest civilian nuclear research centers in Europe." "According to an agreement , the European Union as a whole will cover 40 percent of the cost and France alone will cover another 10 percent. The remaining half will be paid by the other five partners, including the United States, at 10 percent each. France will provide 40 percent of total staffing and Japan 20 percent." Nobody seemed to know anything about thermonuclear fusion even 50 years ago. Nobel laureate Igor Tamm and one of his post-graduate students, Andrei Sakharov, who would later receive the Nobel Prize, were the only scientists capable of discussing this subject. In 1934, Tamm published a textbook on the theory of electricity that outlined the concept of thermonuclear fusion. The situation has changed greatly since. Today 75 per cent of mankind is infatuated with this idea. It all began in 1992 when Russia, the U.S., the European Community, and Japan decided to develop jointly the first international thermonuclear experimental reactor on the basis of TOKAMAK (Toroidal Chamber in Magnetic Coils) technologies. Soviet physicists developed the first TOKAMAK units in line with Sakharov's ideas. Sakharov suggested the TOKAMAK concept back in the 1960s. The world's physicists offered 114 "thermonuclear" concepts: TOKAMAK alone has survived. Sakharov's concept was eventually tested at the Kurchatov R&D Institute, and it proved to be a success. Russian achievements in the field of superconductors, as well as unique electron-plasma heating methods, were instrumental in implementing the ITER project. This project, which will cost an estimated $5 billion, now involves three more countries: China, India, and North Korea. A country whose territory has been chosen to build the reactor shall contribute 50 per cent of the total. The parties to the project debated this issue rather hotly, with France and Japan offering to accommodate the reactor. It was eventually decided to construct the ITER reactor in France's Gadarache (Provence). Russia has undertaken to finance 10 per cent. The ITER is the most ambitious undertaking of its kind in the history of mankind, dwarfing the International Space Station (ISS) in terms of intellectual and financial resources. "The project hinges on new principles of equitable cooperation. The inequality of owners and consumers has been rectified within its framework. This is an act of intellectual globalisation," Mr. Velikhov noted.

Each country will contribute an ITER segment. The reactor will feature 100 times more high-precision parts than a Boeing 747 jet. An international directorate will oversee the construction project

Salient features of ITER:

1. "Scientists know it could work because they know the hydrogen bomb works. But the problem they face is trying to do it in a controlled manner so the heat can be used to generate electricity." 2. Nonetheless, ITER maintains that the energies are enough to damage the investment, but not to cause sufficient damage to affect the general public. The plant is designed with various lines of defence to avoid the possibility of contamination outside the plant in the case of such hypothetical accidents." 3. In addressing the potential for a leak of radioactivity, they also find little cause for concern: "Under the worst case accident scenario, the extra annual dose the most exposed individual would receive is about double that of natural radiation (which itself varies by more than this factor from place to place). Even under the worst accumulation of accidents (for which no chain of events can be envisaged), evacuation of the most exposed individual would not be required according to ICRP and IAEA guidelines." 4. In terms of a terrorist attack, which is playing on everyone's mind these days prohibiting development of important energy sources like liquefied natural gas (LNG) - ITER concludes that it cannot say that a terrorist attack wouldn't cause serious repercussions, but "protection of any industrial plant against malicious intent is necessarily a high priority in its design these days. ITER is no different or special in this respect than other similarly complex plant (e.g., chemical, pharmaceutical, oil refining) dealing with potentially dangerous substances."

Conclusion: Despite its detractors, ITER is a project whose benefits could be of literally inconceivable proportions in providing the world with cheap energy. For that reason, every effort must be made to see through the long process of development ahead. If peak oil has just occurred, or is set to occur in the next few years, ITER based plants coming online in three decades or so could prove very timely. Maybe by then there will be economically feasible ways to harness the wind and the sun, but in the meantime the scientists must ply their trade. This is a refreshing reminder of mankind's ingenuity, inventiveness and ability to conquer nature in positive ways that continue to boost the world's standard of living. The intended fusion power of ITER is 500 to 700 MW, with a plasma burn time of over 400 sec. The path to economically competitive fusion power still encounters unresolved issues. As the needed research continues, it should involve using and enhancing existing facilities, increasing present capabilities in computer simulation, encouraging nearignition experiments and constructing new experimental facilities that can be considered reasonable next steps. Certainly it is appropriate to continue strong international scientific exchange and collaboration, but let it follow routes for planning and implementation that are more attractive and more cost effective than the one now emerging from the EDA The ITER project is set to remove the last obstacle to the creation of the world's first thermonuclear power plant that promises to solve global energy and environmental problems. A thermonuclear power plant may materialise by 2030.