Will 'ultimate energy' light up thousands of homes around 2050?
2024-07-18
According to the development roadmap of nuclear fusion in China, the overall time is also close to the expected time of other countries. A commercial fusion power plant will be built around 2050, realizing the commercial power generation of fusion reactors and lighting up thousands of households with fusion energy. "Recently, at the" Three Steps to Nuclear Energy "Academician Forum, Liu Yong, Honorary Chairman of the Nuclear Fusion and Plasma Physics Branch of the Chinese Nuclear Society, said. Controllable nuclear fusion is known as the "ultimate energy" of humanity. According to China National Nuclear Corporation, as an energy source with a scale of ten thousand years, fusion reactors are the main type of reactor to be constructed in the long term in China's "three-step" development strategy of nuclear energy, which includes hot reactors, fast reactors, and fusion reactors. Ye Qizhen, an academician of the CAE Member, said that nuclear fusion energy is a subversive nuclear technology. Once it is conquered, it will provide inexhaustible energy for mankind. Fusion reactors are also a highly cooperative and competitive technology field among major countries in the world, and also a nuclear technology that we must adhere to. Since participating in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) program, China's related scientific research capabilities have greatly improved. Nuclear fusion technology has moved from following the past to running parallel, and some technologies have reached the international leading level. In recent years, China has made continuous breakthroughs in controllable nuclear fusion research. For example, in October 2022, the new generation artificial sun - China Circulation III - achieved a discharge of 1.15 million amperes. In April 2023, the Eastern Super Ring (EAST) achieved its first 403 second long duration high constraint mode operation. At the same time, the joint efforts of governments, enterprises, and social capital worldwide have accelerated the commercialization of fusion energy. According to the "2023 Fusion Industry Report" released by the Fusion Industry Association (FIA) in the United States, the number of global fusion energy companies continues to increase, with 13 new companies added in 2023, bringing the total number to 43, including China's New Austrian Energy, Energy Singularity, and the preparation of China Nuclear Power Corporation Limited. However, Liu Yong also pointed out that some companies claim to achieve commercial nuclear fusion power generation in the next few years for commercial purposes, which violates the basic law of the three-step process of nuclear energy technology from experiments to large-scale applications: experimental reactors, demonstration reactors, and commercial reactors, and needs to be viewed rationally. Liu Yong stated that the development of controllable nuclear fusion energy can be divided into six stages: principle experiments, scale experiments, combustion experiments, experimental reactors, demonstration reactors, and commercial reactors. Each stage is iterated in sequence to gradually release technical risks. ITER is only addressing key issues related to large-scale experiments and combustion experiments, and is currently under construction. He introduced that while participating in the construction of ITER, Europe, the United States, Japan, Russia and other countries are actively formulating their own development strategies for magnetic confinement nuclear fusion energy, basically focusing on achieving the application of nuclear fusion energy around the mid-20th century. According to China's development roadmap for nuclear fusion, the overall timeline is also similar to that of other countries. Commercial fusion power plants will be built around 2050, realizing commercial power generation from fusion reactors and lighting up thousands of households with fusion energy Liu Yong said. In addition to fusion reactors, China has also achieved remarkable results in the fields of hot and fast reactors in recent years. Hot reactors are the most mature and economically viable nuclear energy technology. In the field of hot reactors, at present, China's hot reactors have achieved upgrading from the second generation to the third generation, and the main reactor type "Hualong One" has accelerated mass construction and gone abroad, receiving high praise overseas. In September 2020, China completed the research and development of the third-generation nuclear power technology "Guohe No.1" with independent intellectual property rights. Xing Ji, the chief designer of China National Nuclear Corporation's "Hualong One" project, introduced that in the future, China will mainly optimize and improve thermal reactor technology from three aspects: enhancing system safety and economy; Integrating with new technologies to improve operational efficiency; Miniaturization and multi-purpose applications. In the field of fast reactors, Yu Jianfeng, Secretary of the Party Group and Chairman of China National Nuclear Corporation, stated that the development of fast reactors in China is deepening and solidifying. China's experimental fast reactors have been built and put into operation, and fast reactor technology is constantly developing and maturing. The strategic research and development of integrated fast reactors has been launched and implemented. China National Nuclear Corporation will accelerate the development of fast reactors, develop commercial fast reactors with a capacity of one million kilowatts, promote integrated fast reactor research and development, and strive to achieve integrated fast reactor engineering demonstration before 2035. Large scale post-treatment plants will be built and put into operation, with commercial application conditions. Overall, China's nuclear energy development is in the most important strategic opportunity period Ye Qizhen stated that we should continue to adhere to the "three-step" strategy for nuclear energy development. While continuously developing hot reactors, we will put the development of fast reactor nuclear energy on the fast track, help achieve the "dual carbon" goal, and strengthen the research and engineering demonstration of controllable nuclear fusion technology. Nuclear energy is an important component in supporting the 'dual carbon' goal, and there is still a lot of room for future development and growth Du Xiangwan, an academician of the CAE Member, said that from the perspective of overall installed capacity, by 2035, China is expected to have a total installed capacity of about 200 million kilowatts of nuclear power in operation and under construction, accounting for 10% of power generation. Based on the demand for decarbonization and the balance of installed electricity capacity, it is predicted that China's nuclear power installed capacity needs to reach over 400 million kilowatts by 2060 in order to achieve carbon neutrality goals, with a power generation proportion of over 20%. (New Society)
Edit：NingChangRun Responsible editor：LiaoXin
Source：China News Service Website
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