When I first thought of nuclear power before my trip to the MIT Plasma Reactor I
thought of nuclear bombs, plant meltdowns, and all the death and destruction that came
with nuclear power. However, not all nuclear power is destructive. Using fusion as a
means of creating energy is a better alternative to using nuclear fission because fusion
does not produce long-lived nuclear waste, fusion fuel cannot be used to create nuclear
bombs and weapons, and unlike fission plants, fusion plants do not pose any threat of a
meltdown or catastrophic failure. Fusion is not only safer for humans but also for the
environment. Fusion does not cause climate change, acid rain, smog, or emissions.
Scientists even expect that the fusion as an energy source will never deplete.
Fusion sounds like a great idea doesn’t it? However, there is one problem: the
Coulomb Barrier. Since like charges repel the particles must have enough energy to
overcome the coulomb barrier. When the particles are heated up to approximately 100
million degrees, the particles form plasma. Plasma is the “fourth state of matter”.
Solids are melted down into liquids, that become gasses, and when a gas is heated up
the particles become plasma. Most of the world is made up of plasma including:
plasma televisions, neon lights, energy efficient light bulbs, lightening, and the Aurora
Bourealis.
The Tokamak Plasma Reactor at MIT is used to study plasma physics. Despite
the fact, the reactor can sustain fusion for about 1/10 of a second, to actually create
energy from fusion, they have to maintain fusion from 1-10 seconds, which has never
been done. While MIT is on the right track to using plasma fusion as a renewable,
dependable energy resource, they are not there yet. Most of their experiments are
done to just observe plasma, map out its behavior, and become more educated
about plasma as a whole before they jump into manipulating the plasma to create a
source of energy.