Many regard nuclear fusion as the main energy source of the future. Among others, the ITER project is seeking to turn this venture into reality and is making use of the Tokamak reactor for this purpose. Reactors of this type have a number of control problems, and to solve them the electronics engineers have come up with some tools.
This is not nuclear fission that is currently in use, but nuclear fusion, which many regard as the main energy source of the future. Among others, the ITER project (the third most expensive in history) is seeking to turn this venture into reality and is making use of the Tokamak reactor for this purpose. Reactors of this type and the plasma used in them to carry out fusion have a number of control problems, and to solve them the electronics engineer Goretti Sevillano has come up with some tools in her thesis defended at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Her thesis is entitled Herramientas para el control del plasma en reactores Tokamak de fusión nuclear: integración Astra-Matlab y control en tiempo real (Tools for plasma control in Tokamak nuclear fusion reactors: Astra-Matlab integration and control in real time), and she has also had two papers published on the subject in the journals Informatica and Energy.
What happens in fission is that the nucleus of an atom is split; this is in stark contrast to fusion in which two lightweight atoms join together. Sevillano explains that the latter could generate more energy than fission, on which nuclear power stations are currently based. But that is not all. "In fission reactions there is a risk of explosion, but not in fusion, so nothing like what took place in Chernobyl or Fukushima would ever happen. What is more, the waste generated in fission has a very long life and is radioactive; but this is not the case in fusion. Likewise, the fuels are more accessible. Uranium or plutonium is used in fission, and its access is not so widespread; but in fusion, helium or tritium, which can be obtained from water or earth, are used," she explains. So her PhD thesis is another step along the path to fusion.
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