Nuclear Fusion: Putting a Star in a Bottle
Scientists and engineers have been in pursuit of the “Holy Grail” of energy for over 70 years and now, more than ever it seems that fusion is finally within a 20-year reach. But to truly achieve a steady-state, working fusion power plant there are still hurdles that need to be overcome.
One of the biggest issues is the materials that we will use to build the actual reactors. We are dealing with conditions that exceed that of the Sun’s surface (temperature) and core (pressure). Though the current state-of-the-art are solid materials like tungsten, its clear that these are struggling and we have to look to other innovative ones, for example, liquid metals.
In this talk I will go over the basics of nuclear fusion and why we want it, how to actually build a fusion power plant and finally focus in on a couple of the things that are still (potentially) holding us back. I’ll also talk a bit about liquid lithium and how it can solve many of these issues as well as the challenges faced by using liquid metal systems. It will focus on a few of the solutions being investigated at UIUC and the plasma, fusion and PMI program at the Center for Plasma Material Interactions (CPMI).
Learn more about Professor Daniel Andruczyk on the Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering website: https://npre.illinois.edu/people/profile/andruczy
Join us for a tour of the HIDRA (toroidal plasma device) immediately following the lecture!