• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds




Fusion research: ORNL chosen for plasma materials experiment facility

Posted at 6:29 pm March 1, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Scientists use a laser to align the plasma created at the Proto-MPEX (Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment) machine at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo credit: Ted Biewer/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been chosen as the site of an experimental facility to test materials that would withstand the harsh conditions of the plasmas created in fusion devices, which, researchers hope, could eventually provide carbon-free energy to people around the world.

The proposed facility, the Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment facility, or MPEX, has an estimated cost range between $87 million and $175 million. It would be in an existing facility in an area at ORNL known as the Energy Systems Test Complex.

Fusion devices would use the same reactions that power the sun. Temperatures inside a fusion reactor could reach millions of degrees.

Scientists are studying materials that could withstand the conditions inside fusion reactors by exposing them to prototypical plasma conditions. Plasma, the heated matter created in a fusion device, has high-energy neutrons, electrons, and ions. MPEX would study materials that face the plasma. Finding materials capable of withstanding the harsh environment remains a major hurdle to using fusion to produce energy.

A critical decision for the MPEX facility was completed in early February by the U.S. Department of Energy. ORNL is a DOE Office of Science lab. The critical decision, CD-1, is the second step in the five-step process that DOE uses to manage projects. The CD-1 decision included an alternative selection and a cost range.

ORNL was selected because of its fusion materials program and wide-ranging nuclear facilities management and capabilities, among other attributes, and the lab is the site of the Proto-MPEX. That is the forerunner facility used to develop the technology and design for MPEX.

The Proto-MPEX (Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment) facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory explores plasma-material interactions under conditions similar to those on the surface of the sun. (Photo credit: Jason Richards, ORNL)

There are currently no materials that can withstand the harsh conditions inside a future fusion power plant, including plasma and neutrons. MPEX is expected to help the fusion researchers develop those materials.

In 2016, MPEX program manager Juergen Rapp said developing materials for a fusion reactor is like developing a heat shield for the space shuttle, but the heat fluxes encountered by a re-entry vehicle are nothing compared to the fluxes that materials will experience inside a fusion reactor.

The materials will be constantly exposed to fusion plasmas reaching 10,000 to 100,000 degrees Kelvin (roughly 18,000 to 180,000 degrees Fahrenheit) and high-energy neutrons, ions, and electrons that damage and degrade materials.

In one milestone, ORNL said in October that researchers at Proto-MPEX, which creates a linear-shaped plasma, were able to raise a plasma temperature to achieve heat fluxes approaching 10 megawatts per square meter, similar to what is expected in the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor, or ITER. That’s the world’s largest fusion experiment, and it is under construction in southern France.

Advertisement

ORNL has said the Proto-MPEX was designed to test materials using a powerful plasma source only in brief bursts. MPEX could run longer, 24 hours a day, seven days per week, for possibly two weeks at a time to expose materials to plasma and see how they hold up, Rapp said in 2016.

The facility could test materials that have been developed by ORNL’s Materials Science and Technologies Division. Besides being tested at MPEX, the materials could also be tested by exposing them to high neutron fluxes (flows) at ORNL’s High Flux Isotope Reactor.

ORNL’s involvement in fusion research has included leading the U.S. ITER project office and leading the Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program, which was established by DOE’s Fusion Energy Sciences program in 2019. ORNL oversees U.S. research and development contributions to ITER, and the lab has a fusion science program that is expected to pursue challenges beyond ITER, challenges that will need to be addressed to bring fusion power to the electrical grid.

Other challenges being worked on at ORNL include the fusion energy fuel cycle, improved modeling of fusion devices, and improved techniques for controlling the plasma. The lab collaborates with other fusion researchers across the country, including in industry and at other national laboratories.

Fusion happens when the nuclei of lighter atoms join under extraordinarily high temperatures to create a heavier nucleus, releasing energy. The hot, fused atoms form a plasma that is confined by high magnetic fields in an experimental vessel called a tokamak designed to withstand conditions hotter than the sun. But instabilities can occur in such an extreme environment. Researchers have been building the scientific basis for nuclear fusion for decades as an energy source that could generate electricity. Current nuclear power reactors use fission. While fusion combines atoms, fission splits them.

Learn more about fusion energy and MPEX at ORNL here.

Plasma viewed through a port in the Proto-MPEX (Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment) facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo credit: Jason Richards, ORNL)

More information will be added as it becomes available.

You can contact John Huotari, owner and publisher of Oak Ridge Today, at (865) 951-9692 or [email protected]

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.


Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

Copyright 2021 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Science, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: DOE, fusion, fusion experiment, fusion materials, fusion plasma, fusion power, fusion reactor, International Tokamak Experimental Reasctor, ITER, Juergen Rapp, Materials Plasma eXposure Experiment, MPEX, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, plasma, Proto-MPEX, U.S. Department of Energy

Advertisements

Join the club!

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

Commenting Guidelines

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.

More U.S. Department of Energy News

Granholm, a former governor, now energy secretary

Jennifer Granholm Note: This story was updated at 7:30 p.m. Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor, was sworn in as energy secretary on Thursday. Granholm was the first female governor of Michigan, and … [Read More...]

Hear from ORNL scientists who worked on Perseverance mission

https://www.youtube.com/embed/mV1sYjE-zMU Video published on YouTube by Oak Ridge National Laboratory Three scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will discuss their work this afternoon on technologies for the … [Read More...]

Bienvenue named first executive director of Oak Ridge Institute

Joan Bienvenue Joan Bienvenue has been selected as the first executive director of the Oak Ridge Institute at the University of Tennessee. "The institute was established last year to align the expertise and … [Read More...]

ORISE report shows overall number of nuclear engineering degrees increases to highest level since 2016

Part of the ORAU campus in central Oak Ridge is pictured above on May 29, 2017. (File photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today) The number of nuclear engineering degrees awarded in 2019 were at the highest level since … [Read More...]

ORAU receives National Science Foundation grant to study greenhouse gases in Arctic

Praveena Krishnan The National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs has awarded ORAU a collaborative research grant to study greenhouse gas emissions in the Arctic. The award is valued at $581,829. The grant … [Read More...]

More DOE

Recent Posts

  • Blasius to discuss Downtown Oak Ridge on Tuesday
  • Oak Ridge releases water quality report
  • Granholm, a former governor, now energy secretary
  • Gov. Lee lifts nursing home restrictions, extends state of emergency
  • ORNL FCU will lease space to Anderson County Family Justice Center
  • Basketball photos: Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats
  • Basketball: Lady Wildcats win district championship, defeat Farragut
  • ORUD announces new president, general manager
  • REAC/TS receives U.S. Secretary of Energy’s Achievement Award
  • TVA conducting maintenance at Bull Run

Search Oak Ridge Today

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2021 Oak Ridge Today