It is news of these days the realization of the greatest magnet never built by man. And it was made in Italy, a La Spezia, with a view to a program that provides for the construction of an experimental reactor for the nuclear fusion in France. A project, that of the reactor, complex and futuristic and which sees the collaboration of 35 different countries.
A record-breaking magnet
Made in the warehouses ofASG, it is the largest magnet in the world. A beast weighing 120 tons, 10 meters long and 16 wide. In short, certainly not something difficult to notice and which took 7 years to complete. Inside, nuclear fusion will take place generating a temperature of 150 million degrees, about ten times that of the solar core. With this heat it is possible to fuse the atoms themselves. But rest assured, the magnet will keep these temperatures at bay by counteracting them with a magnetic field a million times higher than Earth's. In addition, the whole block will work at a temperature of almost 300 degrees below zero, preventing it from merging.
Impressive numbers, but this won't be the last magnet. In fact, 9 more are planned from the same factory for the next few years, which will be installed at the Cadarache, in southern France. Another 9 magnets will be made in Japan, at the Mitsubishi and Hitachi factories. By 2025, the nuclear fusion Iter plant will be operational, projecting humanity into a new chapter of electricity generation.
Nuclear fusion power plants
But why is nuclear fusion considered the energy of the future? And what are the differences with the current nuclear power plants? These are actually two very different processes: fusion e fission. The latter is the method currently most used since the 50s. The process takes place through the bombardment of uranium or plutonium with beams of neutrons that divide the atom into two fragments. The split generates energy which is then exploited by man. However, there are several drawbacks such as the instability of the whole process and the generation of radioactive waste and waste.
Precisely for this reason, we have been moving towards nuclear fusion for decades. Here the procedure involves the union of two nuclei of an element, generating one with a higher atomic number. The difficulties of this process are represented by the very high temperatures capable of triggering the melting: tens of millions of degrees. In nature, only the stars are able to release so much heat. But the advantages are many, moreover, no waste of any kind would be produced. That is why man has been trying for years to push in this direction. And now, thanks also to the made in Italy magnets, it will be possible to take a leap forward in research.
