The Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) fusion reactor at the world’s largest stellarator facility in the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics has just successfully generated high-energy helium-3 ions for the first time.

A press release from the Max Planck Institute said, “In the world’s largest stellarator facility, high-energy helium-3 ions were generated for the first time using ion cyclotron resonance heating – a milestone for fusion research.”.

The experiment with the W7-X, an advanced fusion reactor operated by the Max Planck Institute, addressed a crucial challenge in harnessing fusion power. Future fusion power plants will have to be able to efficiently contain a multi-million-degree plasma.

This plasma generates high-energy ‘alpha particles’ (helium-4 nuclei), which are critical for sustaining the extreme temperatures needed for continuous fusion reactions. If these particles escape containment too quickly, the plasma cools, and the reaction cannot be maintained.

Given W7-X’s experimental nature and scaled-down design compared to a full-sized fusion power plant, scientists simulate these conditions using lighter, lower-energy particles.

The scientists explained that “In practice, the lighter helium-3 ions are accelerated to a suitable energy for this purpose.”. The team employed an advanced technique known as ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) to achieve this.

The press released added, “This is similar to pushing a child on a swing: to be effective, each push must be precisely in tune with the swing’s natural frequency – in other words, it must be in resonance.”.

The ICRH process utilizes powerful, megawatt-range high-frequency waves. By injecting electromagnetic waves into a plasma containing hydrogen and helium-4, and tuning them to the specific ion cyclotron frequency at which helium-3 ions naturally orbit around the magnetic field lines, the particles efficiently absorb energy.

The press release emphasized, “This is the first time that high-energy helium-3 ions have been produced in a stellarator using ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH): a world first in fusion research. The ICRH system is being developed and operated at W7-X under the umbrella of the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC) in close collaboration between the Plasma Physics Laboratory of the Royal Military Academy in Brussels and the Jülich institutes IFN-1 and ITE.”.

This innovation carries implications for research far beyond Earth. Scientists have discovered that the same resonant processes driving helium-3 particles in the W7-X might explain a perplexing phenomenon on the sun.

The team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute said, “This research contributes to developing a sustainable energy source and provides unexpected insights into how the sun works. The same resonance processes that excite helium-3 particles in W7-X may also explain the occasional occurrence of helium-3-rich clouds in its atmosphere.”.

It is theorized that helium-3 particles in the sun could be selectively accelerated by naturally occurring electromagnetic waves which causes the formation of massive clouds containing up to ten thousand times more helium-3 than usual.

The press release concluded that “These findings show that fusion science is not only shaping the future, but also helping to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos around us.”.

Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

Part 3 of 3 Parts (Please read Parts 1 and 2 first)

The timeline for the first SMR is to complete construction by the end of 2029 and be in service in 2030. The remaining three SMRs will be completed in the mid-2030s. Preparation work on the site has been moving forward for all four SMRs, ahead of the construction approval.

The Conference Board of Canada estimates that the deployment and operation of the four SMRs will increase Ontario’s GDP by twenty-five and a half billion dollars over sixty-five years and Canada’s GDP by twenty-seven and a half billion dollars. It will also sustain eighteen thousand jobs during the construction phase and twenty-five hundred jobs over the projected sixty years of operation. The economic multiplier is the ratio of increased GDP to spending. It is estimated at ninety one percent for the SMR project. One dollar spent will boost GDP by ninety-one cents.

The Ontario Energy Board will review the recovery of the costs for the project in future proceedings for OPG’s regulated electricity prices. Ontario is exploring potential financial policy tools that would benefit ratepayers. OPG “continues to explore optimal financing arrangements in support of funding requirements for the planned capital investments”. OPG will be recouping the cost of the SMRs from customers’ bills over the sixty-year generating life of the SMRs and says the projected cost of about fifteen cents per kilowatt-hour would be comparable with alternative renewable energy sources. OPG mentions Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator evaluation of the new nuclear project against viable non-carbon emitting alternatives which found that replacing the project with wind, solar, and battery storage would require five thousand six hundred to eight thousand nine hundred megawatts of capacity at a cost of thirteen and a half to nineteen cents per kilowatt-hour compared with the fifteen cents per kilowatt-hour for the SMRs.

Nuclear energy is often seen as producing baseload clean energy, without the harmful climate emissions of fossil fuels. However, the construction and fueling of nuclear reactors do generate carbon emissions. Nuclear reactors also require less land and transmission infrastructure requirements associated with alternative renewable energy sources. It produces energy about ninety percent of the time. Nuclear power can help in terms of energy security for Canada and help power things such as data centers which need huge amounts of reliable energy.

In the past couple of decades, the promise and potential of small modular reactors has been well documented. There are more than seventy different designs currently in development and numerous new projects are being proposed. You can get more details on SMRs from the World Nuclear Association Information Paper on Small Modular Reactors.

By proceeding with the Darlington project, Canada looks set to have the first commercial SMR operating in North America, or anywhere in G7. (Russia and China are currently in the lead with SMR construction projects and Argentina has a pilot SMR under construction). Poland, the U.S. and the U.K. are among a variety of countries currently looking at BWRX-300 deployment. OPG says that “as the first mover on small modular reactors, the Darlington SMR project will create jobs for Canadian workers, contracts for Canada’s booming supply chain and showcase Canada’s capabilities and expertise to the world to further grow the industry while strengthening Canada’s energy security”.

GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy