According to modern astrophysical concepts, the main source of energy of the Sun and other stars is thermonuclear fusion occurring in their depths. Under terrestrial conditions, it is carried out during the explosion of a hydrogen bomb. Thermonuclear fusion is accompanied by a colossal energy release per unit mass of reacting substances (about 10 million times greater than in chemical reactions). Therefore, it is of great interest to master this process and use it to create a cheap and environmentally friendly source of energy. However, despite the fact that large scientific and technical teams in many developed countries are engaged in research into controlled thermonuclear fusion (CTF), many complex problems still need to be solved before the industrial production of thermonuclear energy becomes a reality.

Modern nuclear power plants using the fission process only partially satisfy the world's electricity needs. The fuel for them is the natural radioactive elements uranium and thorium, the abundance and reserves of which in nature are very limited; therefore, many countries face the problem of importing them. The main component of thermonuclear fuel is the hydrogen isotope deuterium, which is found in sea water. Its reserves are publicly available and very large (the world's oceans cover ~71% of the Earth's surface area, and deuterium accounts for about 0.016% of the total number of hydrogen atoms that make up water). In addition to the availability of fuel, thermonuclear energy sources have the following important advantages over nuclear power plants: 1) the UTS reactor contains much less radioactive materials than a nuclear fission reactor, and therefore the consequences of an accidental release of radioactive products are less dangerous; 2) thermonuclear reactions produce less long-lived radioactive waste; 3) TCB allows direct receipt of electricity.

PHYSICAL BASICS OF NUCLEAR fusion

The successful implementation of a fusion reaction depends on the properties of the atomic nuclei used and the ability to obtain dense high-temperature plasma, which is necessary to initiate the reaction.

Nuclear forces and reactions.

The energy release during nuclear fusion is due to extremely intense attractive forces acting inside the nucleus; These forces hold together the protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus. They are very intense at distances of ~10–13 cm and weaken extremely quickly with increasing distance. In addition to these forces, positively charged protons create electrostatic repulsive forces. The range of electrostatic forces is much greater than that of nuclear forces, so they begin to dominate when the nuclei are removed from each other.

As G. Gamow showed, the probability of a reaction between two approaching light nuclei is proportional to , where e – base of natural logarithms, Z 1 And Z 2 – number of protons in interacting nuclei, W is the energy of their relative approach, and K– constant multiplier. The energy required to carry out a reaction depends on the number of protons in each nucleus. If it is more than three, then this energy is too great and the reaction is practically impossible. Thus, with increasing Z 1 and Z 2 the likelihood of a reaction decreases.

The probability that two nuclei will interact is characterized by the “reaction cross section”, measured in barns (1 b = 10 –24 cm 2). The reaction cross section is the effective cross-sectional area of ​​a nucleus into which another nucleus must “fall” for their interaction to occur. The cross section for the reaction of deuterium with tritium reaches its maximum value (~5 b) when the interacting particles have a relative approach energy of the order of 200 keV. At an energy of 20 keV, the cross section becomes less than 0.1 b.

Out of a million accelerated particles hitting the target, no more than one enters into nuclear interaction. The rest dissipate their energy on the electrons of the target atoms and slow down to speeds at which the reaction becomes impossible. Consequently, the method of bombarding a solid target with accelerated nuclei (as was the case in the Cockcroft-Walton experiment) is unsuitable for controlled fusion, since the energy obtained in this case is much less than the energy expended.

Fusion fuels.

Reactions involving p, which play a major role in the processes of nuclear fusion on the Sun and other homogeneous stars, are not of practical interest under terrestrial conditions because they have too small a cross-section. For thermonuclear fusion on earth, a more suitable type of fuel, as mentioned above, is deuterium.

But the most likely reaction occurs in an equal mixture of deuterium and tritium (DT mixture). Unfortunately, tritium is radioactive and, due to its short half-life (T 1/2 ~ 12.3 years), is practically not found in nature. It is produced artificially in fission reactors, and also as a by-product in reactions with deuterium. However, the absence of tritium in nature is not an obstacle to the use of the DT fusion reaction, since tritium can be produced by irradiating the 6 Li isotope with neutrons produced during synthesis: n+ 6 Li ® 4 He + t.

If you surround the thermonuclear chamber with a layer of 6 Li (natural lithium contains 7%), then you can completely reproduce the consumable tritium. And although in practice some neutrons are inevitably lost, their loss can be easily compensated by introducing into the shell an element such as beryllium, the nucleus of which, when one fast neutron hits it, emits two.

Operating principle of a thermonuclear reactor.

The fusion reaction of light nuclei, the purpose of which is to obtain useful energy, is called controlled thermonuclear fusion. It is carried out at temperatures of the order of hundreds of millions of Kelvin. This process has so far been implemented only in laboratories.

Time and temperature conditions.

Obtaining useful thermonuclear energy is possible only if two conditions are met. First, the mixture intended for synthesis must be heated to a temperature at which the kinetic energy of the nuclei provides a high probability of their fusion upon collision. Secondly, the reacting mixture must be very well thermally insulated (that is, the high temperature must be maintained long enough for the required number of reactions to occur and the energy released due to this to exceed the energy expended on heating the fuel).

In quantitative form, this condition is expressed as follows. To heat a thermonuclear mixture, one cubic centimeter of its volume must be given energy P 1 = knT, Where k– numerical coefficient, n– density of the mixture (number of kernels per 1 cm3), T– required temperature. To maintain the reaction, the energy imparted to the thermonuclear mixture must be maintained for a time t. For a reactor to be energetically profitable, it is necessary that during this time more thermonuclear energy is released in it than was spent on heating. The released energy (also per 1 cm3) is expressed as follows:

Where f(T) – coefficient depending on the temperature of the mixture and its composition, R– energy released in one elementary act of synthesis. Then the condition for energy profitability P 2 > P 1 will take the form

The last inequality, known as the Lawson criterion, is a quantitative expression of the requirements for perfect thermal insulation. The right side - the “Lawson number” - depends only on the temperature and composition of the mixture, and the higher it is, the more stringent the requirements for thermal insulation, i.e. the more difficult it is to create a reactor. In the region of acceptable temperatures, the Lawson number for pure deuterium is 10 16 s/cm 3 , and for an equal-component DT mixture – 2×10 14 s/cm 3 . Thus, the DT mixture is the preferred fusion fuel.

In accordance with Lawson’s criterion, which determines the energetically favorable value of the product of density and confinement time, a thermonuclear reactor should use as large as possible n or t. Therefore, research into controlled fusion has diverged in two different directions: in the first, researchers tried to contain a relatively rarefied plasma using a magnetic field for a sufficiently long time; in the second, using lasers to create a plasma with a very high density for a short time. Much more work has been devoted to the first approach than to the second.

Magnetic plasma confinement.

During the fusion reaction, the density of the hot reagent must remain at a level that would provide a sufficiently high yield of useful energy per unit volume at a pressure that the plasma chamber can withstand. For example, for a deuterium – tritium mixture at a temperature of 10 8 K, the yield is determined by the expression

If we accept P equal to 100 W/cm 3 (which approximately corresponds to the energy released by fuel elements in nuclear fission reactors), then the density n should be approx. 10 15 nuclei/cm 3, and the corresponding pressure nT– approximately 3 MPa. In this case, according to the Lawson criterion, the retention time must be at least 0.1 s. For deuterium-deuterium plasma at a temperature of 10 9 K

In this case, when P= 100 W/cm 3, n» 3Х10 15 nuclei/cm 3 and a pressure of approximately 100 MPa, the required retention time will be more than 1 s. Note that these densities are only 0.0001 of the density of atmospheric air, so the reactor chamber must be evacuated to a high vacuum.

The above estimates of confinement time, temperature and density are typical minimum parameters required for operation of a fusion reactor, and are more easily achieved in the case of a deuterium-tritium mixture. As for thermonuclear reactions occurring during the explosion of a hydrogen bomb and in the bowels of stars, it should be borne in mind that, due to completely different conditions, in the first case they proceed very quickly, and in the second - extremely slowly compared to processes in a thermonuclear reactor.

Plasma.

When a gas is heated strongly, its atoms lose some or all of their electrons, resulting in the formation of positively charged particles called ions and free electrons. At temperatures above a million degrees, a gas consisting of light elements is completely ionized, i.e. each of its atoms loses all its electrons. Gas in an ionized state is called plasma (the term was introduced by I. Langmuir). The properties of plasma differ significantly from the properties of neutral gas. Since plasma contains free electrons, plasma conducts electricity very well, and its conductivity is proportional to T 3/2. Plasma can be heated by passing an electric current through it. The conductivity of hydrogen plasma at 10 8 K is the same as that of copper at room temperature. The thermal conductivity of plasma is also very high.

To keep plasma, for example, at a temperature of 10 8 K, it must be reliably thermally insulated. In principle, plasma can be isolated from the chamber walls by placing it in a strong magnetic field. This is ensured by the forces that arise when currents interact with the magnetic field in the plasma.

Under the influence of a magnetic field, ions and electrons move in spirals along its field lines. A transition from one field line to another is possible during particle collisions and when a transverse electric field is applied. In the absence of electric fields, high-temperature rarefied plasma, in which collisions are rare, will only diffuse slowly across magnetic field lines. If the magnetic field lines are closed, giving them the shape of a loop, then the plasma particles will move along these lines, being held in the loop area. In addition to such a closed magnetic configuration for plasma confinement, open systems (with field lines extending outward from the ends of the chamber) have been proposed, in which particles remain inside the chamber due to magnetic “plugs” limiting the movement of particles. Magnetic plugs are created at the ends of the chamber, where, as a result of a gradual increase in field strength, a narrowing beam of field lines is formed.

In practice, magnetic confinement of a plasma of sufficiently high density has turned out to be far from easy: magnetohydrodynamic and kinetic instabilities often arise in it.

Magnetohydrodynamic instabilities are associated with bends and kinks of magnetic field lines. In this case, the plasma can begin to move across the magnetic field in the form of clumps, in a few millionths of a second it will leave the confinement zone and give up heat to the walls of the chamber. Such instabilities can be suppressed by giving the magnetic field a certain configuration.

Kinetic instabilities are very diverse and they have been studied in less detail. Among them there are those that disrupt ordered processes, such as, for example, the flow of a direct electric current or a stream of particles through the plasma. Other kinetic instabilities cause a higher rate of transverse diffusion of plasma in a magnetic field than predicted by collision theory for a quiet plasma.

Systems with a closed magnetic configuration.

If a strong electric field is applied to an ionized conducting gas, a discharge current will arise in it, at the same time a magnetic field surrounding it will appear. The interaction of the magnetic field with the current will lead to the appearance of compressive forces acting on the charged gas particles. If the current flows along the axis of the conducting plasma cord, then the resulting radial forces, like rubber bands, compress the cord, moving the plasma boundary away from the walls of the chamber containing it. This phenomenon, theoretically predicted by W. Bennett in 1934 and first experimentally demonstrated by A. Ware in 1951, is called the pinch effect. The pinch method is used to contain plasma; Its remarkable feature is that the gas is heated to high temperatures by the electric current itself (ohmic heating). The fundamental simplicity of the method led to its use in the very first attempts to contain hot plasma, and the study of the simple pinch effect, despite the fact that it was later supplanted by more advanced methods, made it possible to better understand the problems that experimenters still face today.

In addition to plasma diffusion in the radial direction, longitudinal drift and its exit through the ends of the plasma cord are also observed. Losses through the ends can be eliminated by giving the plasma chamber a donut (torus) shape. In this case, a toroidal pinch is obtained.

For the simple pinch described above, a serious problem is its inherent magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. If a small bend occurs in the plasma filament, then the density of magnetic field lines on the inside of the bend increases (Fig. 1). Magnetic field lines, which behave like bundles resisting compression, will begin to quickly “bulge”, so that the bend will increase until the entire structure of the plasma cord is destroyed. As a result, the plasma will come into contact with the walls of the chamber and cool. To eliminate this destructive phenomenon, before passing the main axial current, a longitudinal magnetic field is created in the chamber, which, together with a later applied circular field, “straightens” the incipient bend of the plasma column (Fig. 2). The principle of stabilization of a plasma column by an axial field is the basis for two promising projects of thermonuclear reactors - a tokamak and a pinch with an inverted magnetic field.

Open magnetic configurations.

Inertial retention.

Theoretical calculations show that thermonuclear fusion is possible without the use of magnetic traps. To do this, a specially prepared target (a ball of deuterium with a radius of about 1 mm) is rapidly compressed to such high densities that the thermonuclear reaction has time to complete before the fuel target evaporates. Compression and heating to thermonuclear temperatures can be carried out with ultra-powerful laser pulses, uniformly and simultaneously irradiating the fuel ball from all sides (Fig. 4). With the instantaneous evaporation of its surface layers, the escaping particles acquire very high speeds, and the ball is subject to large compressive forces. They are similar to the reactive forces driving a rocket, with the only difference being that here these forces are directed inward, towards the center of the target. This method can create pressures of the order of 10 11 MPa and densities 10,000 times greater than the density of water. At this density, almost all the thermonuclear energy will be released in the form of a small explosion in a time of ~10–12 s. The micro-explosions that occur, each of which is equivalent to 1-2 kg of TNT, will not cause damage to the reactor, and the implementation of a sequence of such micro-explosions at short intervals would make it possible to realize almost continuous production of useful energy. For inertial confinement, the design of the fuel target is very important. A target in the form of concentric spheres made of heavy and light materials will allow for the most efficient evaporation of particles and, consequently, the greatest compression.

Calculations show that with laser radiation energy of the order of megajoule (10 6 J) and laser efficiency of at least 10%, the produced thermonuclear energy must exceed the energy spent on pumping the laser. Thermonuclear laser installations are available in research laboratories in Russia, the USA, Western Europe and Japan. The possibility of using a heavy ion beam instead of a laser beam or combining such a beam with a light beam is currently being studied. Thanks to modern technology, this method of initiating a reaction has an advantage over the laser method, since it allows one to obtain more useful energy. The disadvantage is the difficulty of focusing the beam on the target.

UNITS WITH MAGNETIC HOLDING

Magnetic methods of plasma confinement are being studied in Russia, the USA, Japan and a number of European countries. The main attention is paid to toroidal-type installations, such as a tokamak and a pinch with a reversed magnetic field, which appeared as a result of the development of simpler pinches with a stabilizing longitudinal magnetic field.

For plasma confinement using a toroidal magnetic field B j it is necessary to create conditions under which the plasma does not shift towards the walls of the torus. This is achieved by “twisting” the magnetic field lines (the so-called “rotational transformation”). This twisting is done in two ways. In the first method, a current is passed through the plasma, leading to the configuration of the stable pinch already discussed. Magnetic field of current B q Ј – B q together with B j creates a summary field with the required curl. If B j B q, then the resulting configuration is known as a tokamak (an abbreviation for the expression “TORIDAL CHAMBER WITH MAGNETIC COILS”). Tokamak (Fig. 5) was developed under the leadership of L.A. Artsimovich at the Institute of Atomic Energy named after. I.V. Kurchatov in Moscow. At B j ~ B q we obtain a pinch configuration with a reversed magnetic field.

In the second method, special helical windings around a toroidal plasma chamber are used to ensure equilibrium of the confined plasma. The currents in these windings create a complex magnetic field, leading to twisting of the lines of force of the total field inside the torus. Such an installation, called a stellarator, was developed at Princeton University (USA) by L. Spitzer and his colleagues.

Tokamak.

An important parameter on which the confinement of toroidal plasma depends is the “stability margin” q, equal rB j/ R.B. q, where r And R are the small and large radii of the toroidal plasma, respectively. At low q Helical instability may develop - an analogue of the bending instability of a straight pinch. Scientists in Moscow have experimentally shown that when q> 1 (i.e. B j B q) the possibility of the occurrence of screw instability is greatly reduced. This makes it possible to effectively use the heat generated by the current to heat the plasma. As a result of many years of research, the characteristics of tokamaks have improved significantly, in particular due to increased field uniformity and effective cleaning of the vacuum chamber.

The encouraging results obtained in Russia stimulated the creation of tokamaks in many laboratories around the world, and their configuration became the subject of intensive research.

Ohmic heating of plasma in a tokamak is not sufficient to carry out a thermonuclear fusion reaction. This is due to the fact that when the plasma is heated, its electrical resistance greatly decreases, and as a result, the heat generation during the passage of current sharply decreases. It is impossible to increase the current in a tokamak above a certain limit, since the plasma cord may lose stability and be thrown onto the walls of the chamber. Therefore, various additional methods are used to heat the plasma. The most effective of them are the injection of high-energy neutral atom beams and microwave irradiation. In the first case, ions accelerated to energies of 50–200 keV are neutralized (to avoid being “reflected” back by the magnetic field when introduced into the chamber) and injected into the plasma. Here they are ionized again and in the process of collisions give up their energy to the plasma. In the second case, microwave radiation is used, the frequency of which is equal to the ion cyclotron frequency (the frequency of rotation of ions in a magnetic field). At this frequency, dense plasma behaves like an absolutely black body, i.e. completely absorbs the incident energy. At the JET tokamak of the European Union, plasma with an ion temperature of 280 million Kelvin and a confinement time of 0.85 s was obtained by injection of neutral particles. Thermonuclear power reaching 2 MW was obtained using deuterium-tritium plasma. The duration of maintaining the reaction is limited by the appearance of impurities due to sputtering of the chamber walls: impurities penetrate into the plasma and, when ionized, significantly increase energy losses due to radiation. Currently, work under the JET program is focused on research into the possibility of controlling impurities and removing them so-called. "magnetic diverter".

Large tokamaks were also created in the USA - TFTR, in Russia - T15 and in Japan - JT60. Research carried out at these and other facilities laid the foundation for a further stage of work in the field of controlled thermonuclear fusion: a large reactor for technical testing is scheduled to be launched in 2010. It is expected that this will be a joint effort between the United States, Russia, the European Union and Japan. See also TOKAMAK.

Reversed field pinch (FRP).

The POP configuration differs from the tokamak in that it B q~ B j , but in this case the direction of the toroidal field outside the plasma is opposite to its direction inside the plasma column. J. Taylor showed that such a system is in a state with minimal energy and, despite q

The advantage of the POP configuration is that in it the ratio of the volumetric energy densities of plasma and magnetic field (value b) is greater than in a tokamak. It is fundamentally important that b be as large as possible, since this will reduce the toroidal field, and therefore reduce the cost of the coils that create it and the entire supporting structure. The weakness of POP is that the thermal insulation of these systems is worse than that of tokamaks, and the problem of maintaining a reversed field has not been solved.

Stellarator.

In a stellarator, a closed toroidal magnetic field is superimposed by a field created by a special screw winding wound around the camera body. The total magnetic field prevents plasma drift away from the center and suppresses certain types of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. The plasma itself can be created and heated by any of the methods used in a tokamak.

The main advantage of the stellarator is that the confinement method used in it is not associated with the presence of current in the plasma (as in tokamaks or in installations based on the pinch effect), and therefore the stellarator can operate in a stationary mode. In addition, the screw winding can have a “divertor” effect, i.e. purify plasma from impurities and remove reaction products.

Plasma confinement in stellarators has been extensively studied at facilities in the European Union, Russia, Japan and the USA. At the Wendelstein VII stellarator in Germany, it was possible to maintain a non-current-carrying plasma with a temperature of more than 5×10 6 kelvin, heating it by injecting a high-energy atomic beam.

Recent theoretical and experimental studies have shown that in most of the described installations, and especially in closed toroidal systems, the plasma confinement time can be increased by increasing its radial dimensions and the confining magnetic field. For example, for a tokamak it is calculated that Lawson’s criterion will be satisfied (and even with some margin) at a magnetic field strength of ~50 - 100 kG and a small radius of the toroidal chamber of approx. 2 m. These are the installation parameters for 1000 MW of electricity.

When creating such large installations with magnetic plasma confinement, completely new technological problems arise. To create a magnetic field of the order of 50 kG in a volume of several cubic meters using water-cooled copper coils, a source of electricity with a capacity of several hundred megawatts will be required. Therefore, it is obvious that the coil windings must be made of superconducting materials, such as alloys of niobium with titanium or tin. The resistance of these materials to electric current in the superconducting state is zero, and, therefore, a minimum amount of electricity will be consumed to maintain the magnetic field.

Reactor technology.

Prospects for thermonuclear research.

Experiments performed on tokamak-type installations have shown that this system is very promising as a possible basis for a CTS reactor. The best results to date have been obtained with tokamaks, and there is hope that with a corresponding increase in the scale of installations, it will be possible to implement industrial CTS on them. However, the tokamak is not economical enough. To eliminate this drawback, it is necessary that it operate not in a pulsed mode, as it is now, but in a continuous mode. But the physical aspects of this problem have not yet been studied enough. It is also necessary to develop technical means that would improve plasma parameters and eliminate its instabilities. Given all this, we should not forget about other possible, although less developed, options for a thermonuclear reactor, for example, a stellarator or a field-reversed pinch. The state of research in this area has reached the stage where there are conceptual reactor designs for most magnetic confinement systems for high-temperature plasmas and for some inertial confinement systems. An example of the industrial development of a tokamak is the Aries project (USA).

​Scientists at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have proposed the idea of ​​the longest-lasting nuclear fusion device that can operate for more than 60 years. At the moment, this is a difficult task: scientists are struggling to make a thermonuclear reactor work for a few minutes - and then years. Despite the complexity, the construction of a thermonuclear reactor is one of the most promising tasks in science, which can bring enormous benefits. We tell you what you need to know about thermonuclear fusion.

1. What is thermonuclear fusion?

Don't be intimidated by this cumbersome phrase, it's actually quite simple. Fusion is a type of nuclear reaction.

During a nuclear reaction, the nucleus of an atom interacts either with an elementary particle or with the nucleus of another atom, due to which the composition and structure of the nucleus changes. A heavy atomic nucleus can decay into two or three lighter ones - this is a fission reaction. There is also a fusion reaction: this is when two light atomic nuclei merge into one heavy one.

Unlike nuclear fission, which can occur either spontaneously or forcedly, nuclear fusion is impossible without the supply of external energy. As you know, opposites attract, but atomic nuclei are positively charged - so they repel each other. This situation is called the Coulomb barrier. To overcome repulsion, these particles must be accelerated to crazy speeds. This can be done at very high temperatures - on the order of several million Kelvin. It is these reactions that are called thermonuclear.

2. Why do we need thermonuclear fusion?

During nuclear and thermonuclear reactions, a huge amount of energy is released, which can be used for various purposes - you can create powerful weapons, or you can convert nuclear energy into electricity and supply it to the whole world. Nuclear decay energy has long been used in nuclear power plants. But thermonuclear energy looks more promising. In a thermonuclear reaction, much more energy is released for each nucleon (the so-called constituent nuclei, protons and neutrons) than in a nuclear reaction. For example, when fission of a uranium nucleus into one nucleon produces 0.9 MeV (megaelectronvolt), and whenDuring the fusion of helium nuclei, energy equal to 6 MeV is released from hydrogen nuclei. Therefore, scientists are learning to carry out thermonuclear reactions.

Thermonuclear fusion research and reactor construction make it possible to expand high-tech production, which is useful in other areas of science and high-tech.

3. What are thermonuclear reactions?

Thermonuclear reactions are divided into self-sustaining, uncontrolled (used in hydrogen bombs) and controlled (suitable for peaceful purposes).

Self-sustaining reactions take place in the interior of stars. However, there are no conditions on Earth for such reactions to take place.

People have been conducting uncontrolled or explosive thermonuclear fusion for a long time. In 1952, during Operation Ivy Mike, the Americans detonated the world's first thermonuclear explosive device, which had no practical value as a weapon. And in October 1961, the world's first thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb ("Tsar Bomba", "Kuzka's Mother"), developed by Soviet scientists under the leadership of Igor Kurchatov, was tested. It was the most powerful explosive device in the entire history of mankind: the total energy of the explosion, according to various sources, ranged from 57 to 58.6 megatons of TNT. To detonate a hydrogen bomb, it is necessary to first obtain a high temperature during a conventional nuclear explosion - only then will the atomic nuclei begin to react.

The power of an explosion during an uncontrolled nuclear reaction is very high, and in addition, the proportion of radioactive contamination is high. Therefore, in order to use thermonuclear energy for peaceful purposes, it is necessary to learn how to control it.

4. What is needed for a controlled thermonuclear reaction?

Hold the plasma!

Not clear? Let's explain now.

First, atomic nuclei. In nuclear energy, isotopes are used - atoms that differ from each other in the number of neutrons and, accordingly, in atomic mass. The hydrogen isotope deuterium (D) is obtained from water. Superheavy hydrogen or tritium (T) is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is a byproduct of decay reactions carried out in conventional nuclear reactors. Also in thermonuclear reactions, a light isotope of hydrogen is used - protium: this is the only stable element that does not have neutrons in the nucleus. Helium-3 is found on Earth in negligible quantities, but there is a lot of it in the lunar soil (regolith): in the 80s, NASA developed a plan for hypothetical installations for processing regolith and releasing a valuable isotope. But another isotope is widespread on our planet - boron-11. 80% of boron on Earth is an isotope necessary for nuclear scientists.

Secondly, the temperature is very high. The substance participating in the thermonuclear reaction must be an almost completely ionized plasma - this is a gas in which free electrons and ions of different charges float separately. To turn a substance into plasma, a temperature of 10 7 –10 8 K is required - that’s hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius! Such ultra-high temperatures can be achieved by creating high-power electrical discharges in the plasma.

However, you cannot simply heat the necessary chemical elements. Any reactor will instantly evaporate at such temperatures. This requires a completely different approach. Today it is possible to contain plasma in a limited area using ultra-powerful electric magnets. But it has not yet been possible to fully utilize the energy obtained as a result of a thermonuclear reaction: even under the influence of a magnetic field, the plasma spreads in space.

5. Which reactions are most promising?

The main nuclear reactions planned to be used for controlled fusion will use deuterium (2H) and tritium (3H), and in the longer term helium-3 (3He) and boron-11 (11B).

Here's what the most interesting reactions look like.

1) 2 D+ 3 T -> 4 He (3.5 MeV) + n (14.1 MeV) - deuterium-tritium reaction.

2) 2 D+ 2 D -> 3 T (1.01 MeV) + p (3.02 MeV) 50%

2 D+ 2 D -> 3 He (0.82 MeV) + n (2.45 MeV) 50% - this is the so-called deuterium monopropellant.

Reactions 1 and 2 are fraught with neutron radioactive contamination. Therefore, “neutron-free” reactions are the most promising.

3) 2 D+ 3 He -> 4 He (3.6 MeV) + p (14.7 MeV) - deuterium reacts with helium-3. The problem is that helium-3 is extremely rare. However, the neutron-free yield makes this reaction promising.

4) p+ 11 B -> 3 4 He + 8.7 MeV - boron-11 reacts with protium, resulting in alpha particles that can be absorbed by aluminum foil.

6. Where to carry out such a reaction?

A natural thermonuclear reactor is a star. In it, the plasma is held under the influence of gravity, and radiation is absorbed - thus, the core does not cool down.

On Earth, thermonuclear reactions can only be carried out in special installations.

Pulse systems. In such systems, deuterium and tritium are irradiated with ultra-powerful laser beams or electron/ion beams. Such irradiation causes a sequence of thermonuclear microexplosions. However, such systems are unprofitable to use on an industrial scale: much more energy is spent on accelerating atoms than is obtained as a result of fusion, since not all accelerated atoms react. Therefore, many countries are building quasi-stationary systems.

Quasi-stationary systems. In such reactors, plasma is confined by a magnetic field at low pressure and high temperature. There are three types of reactors based on different magnetic field configurations. These are tokamaks, stellarators (torsatrons) and mirror traps.

Tokamak stands for "toroidal chamber with magnetic coils". This is a “donut” (torus)-shaped chamber on which coils are wound. The main feature of a tokamak is the use of alternating electric current, which flows through the plasma, heats it and, creating a magnetic field around itself, holds it.

IN stellarator (torsatron) the magnetic field is entirely contained by magnetic coils and, unlike a tokamak, can be operated continuously.

In z mirror (open) traps The principle of reflection is used. The chamber is closed on both sides by magnetic “plugs” that reflect the plasma, keeping it in the reactor.

For a long time, mirror traps and tokamaks fought for primacy. Initially, the trap concept seemed simpler and therefore cheaper. In the early 60s, open traps were abundantly funded, but the instability of the plasma and unsuccessful attempts to contain it with a magnetic field forced these installations to become more complicated - seemingly simple structures turned into infernal machines, and it was impossible to achieve a stable result. Therefore, in the 80s, tokamaks came to the fore. In 1984, the European JET tokamak was launched, which cost only $180 million and whose parameters allowed for a thermonuclear reaction. In the USSR and France, superconducting tokamaks were designed, which spent almost no energy on the operation of the magnetic system.

7. Who is now learning to carry out thermonuclear reactions?

Many countries are building their own thermonuclear reactors. Kazakhstan, China, the USA and Japan have their own experimental reactors. The Kurchatov Institute is working on the IGNITOR reactor. Germany launched the Wendelstein 7-X fusion stellarator reactor.

The most famous is the international tokamak project ITER (ITER, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) at the Cadarache research center (France). Its construction was supposed to be completed in 2016, but the amount of necessary financial support has increased, and the timing of the experiments has shifted to 2025. The European Union, USA, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Russia participate in ITER activities. The EU plays the main share in financing (45%), while the remaining participants supply high-tech equipment. In particular, Russia produces superconducting materials and cables, radio tubes for heating plasma (gyrotrons) and fuses for superconducting coils, as well as components for the most complex part of the reactor - the first wall, which must withstand electromagnetic forces, neutron radiation and plasma radiation.

8. Why don't we still use fusion reactors?

Modern tokamak installations are not thermonuclear reactors, but research installations in which the existence and preservation of plasma is possible only for a while. The fact is that scientists have not yet learned how to retain plasma in a reactor for a long time.

At the moment, one of the greatest achievements in the field of nuclear fusion is the success of German scientists who managed to heat hydrogen gas to 80 million degrees Celsius and maintain a cloud of hydrogen plasma for a quarter of a second. And in China, hydrogen plasma was heated to 49.999 million degrees and held for 102 seconds. Russian scientists from the G.I. Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Novosibirsk, managed to achieve stable plasma heating to ten million degrees Celsius. However, the Americans recently proposed a way to retain plasma for 60 years - and this is encouraging.

In addition, there is debate regarding the profitability of nuclear fusion in industry. It is unknown whether the benefits of generating electricity will cover the costs of nuclear fusion. It is proposed to experiment with reactions (for example, abandon the traditional deuterium-tritium reaction or monopropellant in favor of other reactions), construction materials - or even abandon the idea of ​​industrial thermonuclear fusion, using only it for individual reactions in fission reactions. However, scientists still continue experiments.

9. Are fusion reactors safe?

Relatively. Tritium, which is used in fusion reactions, is radioactive. In addition, neurons released as a result of synthesis irradiate the reactor structure. The reactor elements themselves become covered with radioactive dust due to exposure to plasma.

However, a fusion reactor is much safer than a nuclear reactor in terms of radiation. There are relatively few radioactive substances in the reactor. In addition, the design of the reactor itself assumes that there are no “holes” through which radiation can leak. The vacuum chamber of the reactor must be sealed, otherwise the reactor simply will not be able to operate. During the construction of thermonuclear reactors, materials tested by nuclear energy are used, and reduced pressure is maintained in the premises.

When will thermonuclear power plants appear?

Scientists most often say something like “in 20 years we will solve all fundamental issues.” Engineers from the nuclear industry are talking about the second half of the 21st century. Politicians talk about a sea of ​​clean energy for pennies, without bothering with dates.

How scientists search for dark matter in the depths of the Earth

Hundreds of millions of years ago, minerals beneath the earth's surface may have retained traces of a mysterious substance. All that remains is to get to them. ​More than two dozen underground laboratories scattered around the world are busy searching for dark matter.

What hinders the development of the domestic market for radiation technologies?

​Scientists from institutes of the SB RAS, who visited the countries of Southeast Asia, talked about how ordinary fish sellers at local markets, using simple Chinese “technology,” extended the shelf life of their goods.

Super-factory S-tau

​In the OTR program “Big Science. Great in Small,” the director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics named after G.I. Budker SB RAS, Academician Pavel Logachev, spoke about the role the “S-tau Factory” plays in the development of scientific research and what determines its name.

Mass is a special form of energy, as evidenced by Einstein’s famous formula E = mc2. It follows from this that it is possible to convert mass into energy and energy into mass. And such reactions actually take place at the intraatomic level of matter. In particular, part of the mass of the atomic nucleus can be converted into energy, and this happens in two ways. Firstly, a large nucleus can decay into several small ones - this process is called a reaction disintegration. Secondly, several smaller nuclei can combine into one larger one - this is the so-called reaction synthesis. Nuclear fusion reactions are very widespread in the Universe - suffice it to mention that it is from them that stars draw their energy. Nuclear decay today serves as one of the main sources of energy for humanity - it is used in nuclear power plants. In both decomposition reactions and synthesis reactions, the total mass of the reaction products is less than the total mass of the reactants. This difference in mass is converted into energy according to the formula E = mc2.

Decay

In nature, uranium occurs in the form of several isotopes, one of which, uranium-235 (235 U), spontaneously decays and releases energy. In particular, when a sufficiently fast neutron hits the nucleus of a 235 U atom, the latter disintegrates into two large pieces and a number of small particles, usually including two or three neutrons. However, adding up the masses of large fragments and elementary particles, we will miss a certain mass compared to the mass of the original nucleus before its decay under the influence of a neutron impact. It is this missing mass that is released in the form of energy distributed among the resulting decay products - first of all, kinetic energy(energy of movement). Rapidly moving particles fly away from the site of disintegration and collide with other particles of matter, heating them up.

They are particles rapidly flying away from the site of decay, but they do not fly far, crashing into neighboring atoms of the substance and heating them. Thus, the energy generated by nuclear decay is converted into heat of the surrounding matter.

Uranium mined from natural uranium ore, the uranium-235 isotope, contains only 0.7% of the total mass of uranium - the remaining 99.3% comes from the relatively stable (weakly radioactive) isotope 238 U, which simply absorbs free neutrons without decaying under their influence. Therefore, to use uranium as fuel in nuclear reactors it is necessary first enrich - that is, bring the content of the radioactive isotope 235 U to a level of at least 5%.

After this, uranium-235 in the enriched natural uranium in a nuclear reactor disintegrates under the influence of neutron bombardment. As a result, an average of 2.5 new neutrons are released from one 235 U nucleus, each of which causes the decay of another 2.5 nuclei, and the so-called chain reaction. The condition for the continuation of the undamped decay reaction of uranium-235 is that the number of neutrons released by decaying nuclei exceeds the number of neutrons leaving the uranium conglomerate; in this case, the reaction continues with the release of energy.

In an atomic bomb, the reaction is deliberately uncontrolled, as a result of which, in a fraction of a second, a huge number of 235 U nuclei disintegrate and explosive energy of colossal destructiveness is released. In nuclear reactors used in the energy sector, the decay reaction must be strictly controlled in order to dose the energy released. Cadmium is a good neutron absorber; it is usually used to control the decay rate in nuclear power plant reactors. Cadmium rods are immersed in the reactor core to the level necessary to reduce the free energy release rate to technologically reasonable limits, and if the energy release drops below the required level, the rods are partially removed from the reaction core, after which the decay reaction is intensified to the required level. The released thermal energy is then converted into electrical energy in the usual manner (via turbogenerators).

Synthesis

Thermonuclear fusion is a reaction exactly opposite to the decay reaction in its essence: smaller nuclei combine into larger ones. The most common reaction in the Universe in general is the reaction of thermonuclear fusion of helium nuclei from hydrogen nuclei: it continuously occurs in the depths of almost all visible stars. In its pure form, it looks like this: four hydrogen nuclei (protons) form a helium atom (2 protons + 2 neutrons) with the release of a number of other particles. As in the case of the decay reaction of an atomic nucleus, the total mass of the resulting particles turns out to be less the mass of the initial product (hydrogen) - it is released in the form of kinetic energy of reaction product particles, due to which the stars heat up.

In the depths of stars, the thermonuclear fusion reaction does not occur simultaneously (when 4 protons collide), but in three stages. First, two protons form a deuterium nucleus (one proton and one neutron). Then, after another proton hits the deuterium nucleus, helium-3 (two protons and one neutron) plus other particles is formed. Finally, two helium-3 nuclei collide to form helium-4, two protons, and other particles. However, taken together, this three-stage reaction gives the net effect of the formation of a helium-4 nucleus from four protons with the release of energy carried away by fast particles, primarily photons ( cm. Evolution of stars).

The natural reaction of nuclear fusion occurs in stars; artificial - in a hydrogen bomb. Alas, man has still not been able to find the means to direct thermonuclear fusion in a controlled direction and learn to obtain energy from it for peaceful purposes. However, scientists do not lose hope of achieving positive results in the field of obtaining “peaceful and cheap” thermonuclear energy in the foreseeable future - for this, the main thing is to learn how to contain high-temperature plasma either through laser beams or through ultra-powerful toroidal electromagnetic fields ( cm.

Since nuclear forces of attraction act between atomic nuclei at short distances, when two nuclei come closer together, their fusion is possible, i.e., the synthesis of a heavier nucleus. All atomic nuclei have a positive electrical charge and therefore repel each other over large distances. In order for nuclei to come together and enter into a nuclear fusion reaction, they must have sufficient kinetic energy to overcome mutual electrical repulsion, which is greater the greater the charge of the nucleus. Therefore, the easiest way is to synthesize light nuclei with a low electrical charge. In the laboratory, fusion reactions can be observed by firing fast nuclei at a target, accelerated in a special accelerator (see Charged particle accelerators). In nature, fusion reactions occur in very hot matter, for example in the interior of stars, including the center of the Sun, where the temperature is 14 million degrees and the thermal motion energy of some of the fastest particles is sufficient to overcome electrical repulsion. Nuclear fusion occurring in heated matter is called thermonuclear fusion.

Thermonuclear reactions occurring in the depths of stars play a very important role in the evolution of the Universe. They are the source of the nuclei of chemical elements that are synthesized from hydrogen in stars. They are the source of energy for stars. The main source of energy from the Sun is the reactions of the so-called proton-proton cycle, as a result of which a helium nucleus is born from 4 protons. The energy released during fusion is carried away by the resulting nuclei, quanta of electromagnetic radiation, neutrons and neutrinos. By observing the neutrino flow coming from the Sun, it is possible to establish which nuclear fusion reactions and with what intensity occur at its center.

A unique feature of thermonuclear reactions as a source of energy is the very large energy release per unit mass of reacting substances - 10 million times more than in chemical reactions. The entry into synthesis of 1 g of hydrogen isotopes is equivalent to the combustion of 10 tons of gasoline. Therefore, scientists have long been striving to master this gigantic source of energy. In principle, we already know how to obtain thermonuclear fusion energy on Earth today. It is possible to heat matter to stellar temperatures using the energy of an atomic explosion. This is how a hydrogen bomb works - the most terrible weapon of our time, in which the explosion of a nuclear fuse leads to instant heating of a mixture of deuterium and tritium and a subsequent thermonuclear explosion.

But scientists are not striving for such an uncontrollable synthesis that could destroy all life on Earth. They are looking for ways to implement controlled thermonuclear fusion. What conditions must be met for this? First of all, of course, it is necessary to heat the thermonuclear fuel to a temperature where fusion reactions can occur with a noticeable probability. But this is not enough. It is necessary that more energy is released during fusion than is expended on heating the substance, or, even better, that the fast particles created during fusion themselves maintain the required temperature of the fuel. To do this, it is necessary that the substance entering the synthesis be reliably thermally insulated from the surrounding and, naturally, cold environment on Earth, i.e., that the cooling time, or, as they say, the energy retention time, is sufficiently long.

Requirements for temperature and retention time depend on the fuel used. The easiest way to carry out synthesis is between the heavy isotopes of hydrogen - deuterium (D) and tritium (T). In this case, the reaction results in a helium nucleus (He 4) and a neutron. Deuterium is found on Earth in huge quantities in seawater (one deuterium atom for every 6,000 hydrogen atoms). Tritium does not exist in nature. Today it is produced artificially by irradiating lithium in nuclear reactors with neutrons. The absence of tritium is not, however, an obstacle to the use of the D-T fusion reaction, since the neutron produced during the reaction can be used to reproduce tritium by irradiating lithium, the reserves of which are quite large on Earth.

For the D-T reaction, temperatures of about 100 million degrees are most favorable. The requirement for energy retention time depends on the density of the reacting substance, which at such a temperature will inevitably be in the form of plasma, i.e., ionized gas. Since the intensity of thermonuclear reactions is higher, the higher the plasma density, the requirements for energy retention time are inversely proportional to the density. If we express the density in the form of the number of ions per 1 cm 3, then for the D-T reaction at the optimal temperature the condition for obtaining useful energy can be written in the form: the product of the density n and the energy retention time τ must be greater than 10 14 cm −3 s, i.e. That is, a plasma with a density of 10 14 ions per 1 cm 3 should noticeably cool down no faster than in 1 s.

Since the thermal speed of hydrogen ions at the required temperature is 10 8 cm/s, the ions fly 1000 km in 1 s. Therefore, special devices are needed to prevent plasma from reaching the walls that insulate it. Plasma is a gas consisting of a mixture of ions and electrons. Charged particles moving across a magnetic field are subject to a force that bends their trajectory and forces them to move in circles with radii proportional to the momentum of the particles and inversely proportional to the magnetic field. Thus, a magnetic field can prevent charged particles from escaping in a direction perpendicular to the field lines. This is the basis for the idea of ​​magnetic thermal insulation of plasma. The magnetic field, however, does not prevent the movement of particles along the lines of force: in the general case, particles move in spirals, winding around the lines of force.

Physicists have come up with various tricks to prevent particles from escaping along field lines. You can, for example, make “magnetic plugs” - areas with a stronger magnetic field that reflect some of the particles, but it is best to roll the field lines into a ring and use a toroidal magnetic field. But one toroidal field, it turns out, is not enough.

A toroidal field is inhomogeneous in space - its intensity decreases along the radius, and in an inhomogeneous field a slow movement of charged particles occurs - the so-called drift - across the magnetic field. This drift can be eliminated by passing a current through the plasma along the circuit of the torus. The magnetic field of the current, adding to the toroidal external field, will make the overall field helical.

Moving in spirals along the lines of force, charged particles will move from the upper half-plane of the torus to the lower and back. At the same time, they will always drift in one direction, for example upward. But, being in the upper half-plane and drifting upward, the particles move away from the middle plane of the torus, and being in the lower half-plane and also drifting upward, the particles return to it. Thus, drifts in the upper and lower halves of the torus are mutually compensated and do not lead to particle losses. This is exactly how the magnetic system of Tokamak-type installations is designed, in which the best results in heating and thermal insulation of plasma are obtained.

In addition to thermal insulation of the plasma, it is also necessary to ensure its heating. In a Tokamak, current flowing through a plasma cord can be used for this purpose. In other devices, where confinement is carried out without current, as well as in the Tokamak itself, other heating methods are used to heat to very high temperatures, for example, using high-frequency electromagnetic waves, injection (introduction) into the plasma of beams of fast particles, light beams generated by powerful lasers, etc. The greater the power of the heating device, the faster the plasma can be heated to the required temperature. The development in recent years of very powerful lasers and sources of beams of relativistic charged particles has made it possible to heat small volumes of matter to thermonuclear temperatures in a very short time, so short that the matter has time to heat up and enter into fusion reactions before being scattered due to thermal motion. In such conditions, additional thermal insulation turned out to be unnecessary. The only thing that keeps particles from flying apart is their own inertia. Fusion devices based on this principle are called inertial confinement devices. This new direction of research, called inertial thermonuclear fusion, is being rapidly developed at the present time.

Cold can also be called cold fusion. Its essence lies in the possibility of implementing a nuclear fusion reaction occurring in any chemical systems. This assumes that there is no significant overheating of the working substance. As is known, conventional methods create temperatures that can be measured in millions of degrees Kelvin. Cold fusion in theory does not require such a high temperature.

Numerous studies and experiments

Cold fusion research, on the one hand, is considered pure fraud. No other scientific direction is comparable to it in this regard. On the other hand, it is possible that this area of ​​science has not been fully studied, and cannot be considered a utopia, much less a fraud. However, in the history of the development of cold thermonuclear fusion there were still, if not deceivers, then certainly crazy people.

The recognition of this trend as pseudoscience and the reason for the criticism to which cold nuclear fusion technology was subjected were the numerous failures of scientists working in this field, as well as falsifications made by individuals. Since 2002, most scientists believe that work to resolve this issue is futile.

At the same time, some attempts to carry out such a reaction continue. Thus, in 2008, a Japanese scientist from Osaka University publicly demonstrated an experiment performed with an electrochemical cell. It was Yoshiaki Arata. After such a demonstration, the scientific community again began to talk about the possibility or impossibility of cold thermonuclear fusion, which nuclear physics can provide. Some scientists qualified in nuclear physics and chemistry are searching for reasons for this phenomenon. Moreover, they do this with the goal of finding not a nuclear explanation for it, but another, alternative one. In addition, this is also due to the fact that there is no information about neutron radiation.

The story of Fleishman and Pons

The very history of the publication of this type of scientific direction in the eyes of the world community is suspicious. It all started on March 23, 1989. It was then that Professor Martin Fleischman and his partner Stanley Pons called a press conference, which took place at the university where the chemists worked in Utah (USA). Then they announced that they had carried out a cold nuclear fusion reaction by simply passing an electric current through an electrolyte. According to the chemists, as a result of the reaction they were able to obtain a positive energy output, that is, heat. In addition, they observed nuclear radiation resulting from the reaction and coming from the electrolyte.

The statement made literally created a sensation in the scientific community. Of course, low-temperature nuclear fusion produced on a simple desk could radically change the entire world. Complexes of huge chemical installations are no longer needed, which also cost a huge amount of money, and the result in the form of obtaining the desired reaction when it occurs is unknown. If everything were confirmed, Fleischman and Pons would have an amazing future, and humanity - a significant reduction in costs.

However, the statement made by the chemists in this way was their mistake. And, who knows, perhaps the most important. The fact is that it is not customary in the scientific community to make any statements to the media about their inventions or discoveries before information about them is published in special scientific journals. Scientists who do this are instantly criticized, and it is considered a kind of bad form in the scientific community. According to the rules, a researcher who has made any discovery is secretly obliged to first notify the scientific community about it, which will decide whether this invention is really true, whether it should be recognized as a discovery at all. From the legal side, this is considered an obligation to completely maintain secrecy about what happened, which the discoverer must observe from the moment he submits his article to the publication until the moment it is published. Nuclear physics is no exception in this regard.

Fleishman and his colleague sent such an article to a scientific journal called Nature and was the most authoritative scientific publication worldwide. All people associated with science know that such a journal will not publish unverified information, much less publish just anyone. Martin Fleishman was already considered a fairly respected scientist working in the field of electrochemistry at that time, so the submitted article was supposed to be published soon. And so it happened. Three months after the ill-fated conference, the publication was published, but the excitement around the discovery was already in full swing. Perhaps that is why the editor-in-chief of Nature, John Maddox, already in the next monthly issue of the magazine published his doubts about the discovery made by Fleischmann and Pons and the fact that they had obtained the energy of a nuclear reaction. In his note, he wrote that chemists should be punished for its premature publication. There they were told that real scientists would never allow their inventions to be made public, and people who do this can be considered simple adventurers.

Some time later, Pons and Fleischman were dealt another blow, which can be called crushing. A number of researchers from American scientific institutes in the United States (Massachusetts and California Technological Universities) carried out, that is, repeated the experiment of chemists, creating the same conditions and factors. However, this did not lead to the result stated by Fleishman.

Possible or impossible?

Since that time, there has been a clear division of the entire scientific community into two camps. Supporters of one convinced everyone that cold thermonuclear fusion was a fiction that was not based on anything. Others, on the contrary, are still confident that cold nuclear fusion is possible, that the ill-fated chemists nevertheless made a discovery that could ultimately save all of humanity by giving it an inexhaustible source of energy.

The fact that if a new method is invented, with the help of which cold nuclear fusion reactions will be possible, and, accordingly, the significance of such a discovery will be invaluable for all people on a global scale, attracts more and more new scientists to this scientific direction, some of which may in fact be considered scammers. Entire states are making significant efforts to build just one thermonuclear station, spending huge sums of money, and cold thermonuclear fusion is capable of extracting energy in absolutely simple and fairly inexpensive ways. This is what attracts those who want to make money by deception, as well as other people with mental disorders. Among the adherents of this method of obtaining energy, you can find both.

The story with cold thermonuclear fusion simply had to end up in the archive of so-called pseudoscientific stories. If you look at the method by which nuclear fusion energy is obtained with a sober look, you can understand that combining two atoms into one requires a huge amount of energy. It is necessary to overcome electrical resistance. In the International one currently under construction, which will be located in the city of Karadash in France, it is planned to combine two atoms, which are the lightest atoms existing in nature. As a result of such a connection, a positive release of energy is expected. These two atoms are tritium and deuterium. They are isotopes of hydrogen, so nuclear fusion of hydrogen would be the basis. To make such a connection, an unimaginable temperature is required - hundreds of millions of degrees. Of course, this will also require enormous pressure. For this reason, many scientists believe that cold controlled nuclear fusion is impossible.

Successes and failures

However, to justify this synthesis under consideration, it should be noted that among its fans there are not only people with delusional ideas and scammers, but also quite normal specialists. After the speech of Fleishman and Pons and the failure of their discovery, many scientists and scientific institutions continued to work in this area. This could not have happened without Russian specialists, who also made corresponding attempts. And the most interesting thing is that such experiments in some cases ended in success, and in others in failure.

However, in science everything is strict: if a discovery has occurred and the experiment was successful, then it must be repeated again with a positive result. If this is not so, such a discovery will not be recognized by anyone. Moreover, the researchers themselves could not repeat the successful experiment. In some cases they succeeded, in others they did not. No one could explain why this happens; there is still no scientifically proven reason for such inconstancy.

A true inventor and genius

The whole story described above with Fleischman and Pons has another side to the coin, or rather, a truth carefully hidden by Western countries. The fact is that Stanley Pons was previously a citizen of the USSR. In 1970, he was part of the expert team developing thermionic installations. Of course, Pons was privy to many of the secrets of the Soviet state and, having emigrated to the United States, tried to realize them.

The true discoverer who achieved certain successes in cold nuclear fusion was Ivan Stepanovich Filimonenko.

I. S. Filimonenko died in 2013. He was a scientist who almost stopped the entire development of nuclear energy not only in his country, but throughout the world. It was he who almost created a nuclear cold fusion installation, which, in contrast, would be safer and very cheap. In addition to this installation, the Soviet scientist created an aircraft based on the principle of antigravity. He was known as an exposer of the hidden dangers that nuclear energy can bring to humanity. The scientist worked in the defense complex of the USSR, was an academician and an expert on It is noteworthy that some of the academician’s works, including cold nuclear fusion Filimonenko, are still classified. Ivan Stepanovich was a direct participant in the creation of hydrogen, nuclear and neutron bombs, and was involved in the development of nuclear reactors designed to launch rockets into space.

In 1957, Ivan Filimonenko developed a cold nuclear fusion power plant, with the help of which the country could save up to three hundred billion dollars a year by using it in the energy sector. This invention of the scientist was initially fully supported by the state, as well as by such famous scientists as Kurchatov, Keldysh, Korolev. Further developments and bringing Filimonenko’s invention to a finished state were sanctioned at that time by Marshal Zhukov himself. Ivan Stepanovich’s discovery was a source from which clean nuclear energy was to be extracted, and in addition, with its help it would be possible to obtain protection from nuclear radiation and eliminate the consequences of radioactive contamination.

Filimonenko's suspension from work

It is possible that after some time Ivan Filimonenko’s invention would be produced on an industrial scale, and humanity would get rid of many problems. However, fate in the person of some people decreed otherwise. His colleagues Kurchatov and Korolev died, and Marshal Zhukov resigned. This was the beginning of the so-called undercover game in scientific circles. The result was the stoppage of all Filimonenko’s work, and in 1967 his dismissal occurred. An additional reason for such treatment of the honored scientist was his fight to stop nuclear weapons testing. With his works, he constantly proved the harm caused to both nature and people directly; at his instigation, many projects to launch rockets with nuclear reactors into space were stopped (any accident on such a rocket that occurred in orbit could threaten radioactive contamination of the entire Earth). Considering the arms race, which was gaining momentum at that time, Academician Filimonenko became objectionable to some high-ranking officials. His experimental installations are recognized as contrary to the laws of nature, the scientist himself is fired, expelled from the Communist Party, deprived of all titles and generally declared a mentally abnormal person.

Already in the late eighties - early nineties, the academician’s work was resumed, new experimental installations were developed, but all of them were not brought to a positive result. Ivan Filimonenko proposed the idea of ​​using his mobile installation to eliminate the consequences in Chernobyl, but it was rejected. In the period from 1968 to 1989, Filimonenko was removed from any tests and work in the direction of cold thermonuclear fusion, and the developments, diagrams and drawings themselves, along with some Soviet scientists, went abroad.

In the early 90s, the United States announced successful tests in which they allegedly obtained nuclear energy as a result of cold thermonuclear fusion. This was the impetus for his state to remember the legendary Soviet scientist again. He was reinstated, but that didn't help either. By that time, the collapse of the USSR had begun, funding was limited, and, accordingly, there were no results. As Ivan Stepanovich later said in an interview, seeing the continuous and at the same time unsuccessful attempts of many scientists from all over the world to obtain positive results of cold nuclear fusion, he realized that without it no one would be able to complete the job. And, indeed, he spoke the truth. From 1991 to 1993, American scientists who acquired Filimonenko’s installation were unable to understand the principle of its operation, and a year later they completely dismantled it. In 1996, influential people from the United States offered Ivan Stepanovich one hundred million dollars just to provide them with consultations, explaining how a cold fusion reactor works, to which he refused.

Ivan Filimonenko established through experiments that as a result of the decomposition of so-called heavy water through electrolysis, it breaks down into oxygen and deuterium. The latter, in turn, dissolves in the palladium cathode, in which nuclear fusion reactions develop. During this process, Filimonenko recorded the absence of both radioactive waste and neutron radiation. In addition, as a result of his experiments, Ivan Stepanovich established that his nuclear fusion reactor emits uncertain radiation, and it is this radiation that greatly reduces the half-life of radioactive isotopes. That is, radioactive contamination is neutralized.

There is an opinion that Filimonenko at one time refused to replace nuclear reactors with his installation in underground shelters prepared for the top leaders of the USSR in the event of a nuclear war. At that time, the Cuban Missile Crisis was raging, and therefore the possibility of it starting was very high. The only thing that stopped the ruling circles of both the USA and the USSR was that in such underground cities, pollution from nuclear reactors would still kill all life after a few months. Filimonenko's cold fusion reactor could create a safety zone from radioactive contamination, therefore, if the academician agreed to this, the likelihood of a nuclear war could be increased several times. If this was really the case, then depriving him of all awards and further repressions find their logical justification.

Warm nuclear fusion

I. S. Filimonenko created a thermionic hydrolysis energy plant, which was absolutely environmentally friendly. To date, no one has been able to create such an analogue of TEGEU. The essence of this installation and at the same time the difference from other similar units was that it did not use nuclear reactors, but nuclear fusion installations that occur at an average temperature of 1150 degrees. Therefore, such an invention was called a warm nuclear fusion installation. At the end of the eighties, near the capital, in the city of Podolsk, 3 such installations were created. Soviet academician Filimonenko took a direct part in this, leading the entire process. The power of each thermal power plant was 12.5 kW, and heavy water was used as the main fuel. Just one kilogram of it during the reaction released energy equivalent to that which can be obtained by burning two million kilograms of gasoline! This alone speaks of the scope and significance of the inventions of the great scientist, and the fact that the cold nuclear fusion reactions he developed could bring the required result.

Thus, at present it is not known for certain whether cold thermonuclear has the right to exist or not. It is quite possible that if it were not for the repressions against the real genius of science Filimonenko, the world would not be the same now, and people’s life expectancy could have increased many times over. After all, even then Ivan Filimonenko stated that radioactive radiation is the cause of aging of people and early death. It is radiation, which is now literally everywhere, not to mention megacities, that disrupts human chromosomes. Perhaps that is why the biblical characters lived for a thousand years, since at that time this destructive radiation probably did not exist.

The installation created by Academician Filimonenko in the future could rid the planet of such killing pollution, in addition, providing an inexhaustible source of cheap energy. Whether this is true or not, time will tell, but it is a pity that this time could already have come.