Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup spun out of a project in a research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology It announced plans this week to pioneer what it calls a “The world's first grid-scale fusion power plant,” the plant is expected to begin operations in the early 2030s By companyIt will be built in Chesterfield. Virginia
This plan is certainly an ambitious one. Starting with the method of producing energy. Nuclear fusion is a notoriously difficult process. It involves fusing two light atomic nuclei into a single heavier nucleus. This results in the release of enormous amounts of energy—which It is expected to produce four times as much energy. such as nuclear fission reactions The reactions that nuclear fusion creates are the same reactions that power the sun.
It's not hard to imagine why we'd want to harness the sun's energy. In fact, it's hard not to. until now Nuclear fusion has proven rare. At least in a way that will produce usable energy in 2022, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California Achieving nuclear fusion “ignition” for the first time, which means they successfully produced excess energy from the reaction. Before there was progress which since it was repeatedIt takes more energy to create a reaction than the energy that comes from it.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems has not yet achieved surplus energy production. Toward Futurism– Actually, the company hasn't finished construction yet. narrower reactor It is designed to serve as a proof of concept for future large-scale factories. The project will continue. But it seems that the startup has decided to start working ahead of time under the assumption that everything will be fine. Instead of checking the box first.
The company is likely When This Massive Reactor Comes Online in Virginia It will produce 400 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 150,000 homes. That would be awesome! This seems a bit ambitious considering the 0 megawatts generated by the current process.
Be reasonable Nuclear fusion has proven to be very elusive. Until now, but maybe now that the seal was broken by the ignition. Development in space will occur quickly and steadily. With a reported $2 billion in funding behind it, Commonwealth Fusion Systems has great potential as well. with whoever can figure it out And if it can't be done Maybe it can find a way to harness the power of burning all that cash.