Commercial nuclear fusion power

Science and Technology

Commercial nuclear fusion power

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Theophilus Anande 25 Nov 2023

Man increasing hunger for greater energy is drive delve in science more and more

LOGIN Watercooler February 11, 2023 10 min read Latest Technology Trends 2023: 8 New Inventions That Will Change The World Adrien Book Content 1. Commercial nuclear fusion power 2. Robot knowledge sharing 3. DAOs 4. Digital Twin of a customer 5. 6G 6. 4D printing 7. Generative design AI 8. High-temperature superconductivity 9. Smart Street Poles 10. Ion-Propelled UAVs Predicting the next big technology trends In 2020, I wrote an article titled “The Next Big Thing” in Technology: 20 inventions that will change the world”. It has since been read over 100,000 times and shared more than 5,000 times on social media. But anyone reading it today will notice that what was written then is now obsolete. An update is necessary, highlighting the key technologies emerging today that will be all the rage by 2030 (or 2028… or 2032…). These time-frames should be taken with a grain of salt: predictions are wrong more often than not, especially when it comes to technology (check my 2023 tech predictions if you don’t believe me). That’s because we tend to use history, which is at its heart the study of surprises, as a guide to the future. This should however not stop us from aiming to better understand the future. Firstly, because the knowledge gained through planning is crucial to the selection of appropriate actions as future events unfold. Secondly… if you don’t make predictions, you’ll never know what to be surprised by! With this in mind, here are eleven inventions that will change the world in the next few years. RELATED: 17 Highest Paying jobs for the future [2040] 1. Commercial nuclear fusion power Nuclear fusion, in its most common form, is the process of energy being released when bits (“atomic nuclei”, if you’re fancy) of hydrogen are exposed to extreme heat and combined. This process releases massive amounts of energy, which humanity is increasingly hungry for. That’s how the sun works too, by the way. The importance of nuclear fusion lies in earth’s near-unlimited hydrogen supply, which can be extracted from water, and the fact that its only by-product is harmless helium. Fusion reactors are also safer than fission reactors, as they do not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste. If implemented, commercial nuclear fusion power would provide cheap utility-scale energy with very little environmental impact and improve energy availability and security. Several countries have heavily invested in fusion research, and private companies are also conducting their own trials. The ITER reactor, which is under construction in France and due to begin operation in 2026, is the first reactor that should produce energy-positive fusion; but dozens of others are being built. However, fusion research is slow and capital-intensive. The technology’s biggest issue is that rectors currently need to create temperatures hotter than those found on the sun to start the fusion reaction. Doing so requires more energy than what the reaction produces. Despite recent advances, commercial operation of fusion power is still uncertain and likely more than a decade away. You can read more on commercial nuclear fusion power at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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