Nuclear Fusion

Luis Sahua Villegas

UNI

Thermal Physics

June, 2018

Luis Sahua Villegas UNI Thermal Physics Nuclear Fusion

Nuclear Fusion

• In nuclear fusion, the energy is released when the nuclei

of the atoms combine or fuse together to form a larger
nucleus.
• These reactions can absorb or release energy, depending
on whether the mass of the nuclei is greater or lesser than
iron, respectively.

Luis Sahua Villegas UNI Thermal Physics Nuclear Fusion

An example of fusion reactions are those take place in the
Sun, in which the fusion of hydrogen nuclei takes place for
form helium, releasing a large amount of energy in the process
in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which reaches the
earth’s surface and which we perceive as light and heat.

Luis Sahua Villegas UNI Thermal Physics Nuclear Fusion

Requirements

 To achieve the necessary energy, particle accelerators can

be used or resort to heating at very high temperatures.
This last solution called thermal fusion and involves
heating the atoms to achieve a gaseous mass called
plasma, composed of free electrons and atoms highly
ionized.
 It is also necessary to guarantee the confinement and
control of plasma at high temperatures in the cavity of a
fusion reactor the time needed to that the reaction occurs.
 It is also necessary to achieve a sufficient plasma density
so that the nuclei are close to each other and can give
rise to the reactions of fusion.

Luis Sahua Villegas UNI Thermal Physics Nuclear Fusion

Confinement methods

Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF): Consists of creating

such a dense medium that the particles have almost no chance
of escape without colliding each. For this, a small sphere
composed of deuterium and tritium by a laser beam causing
its implosion. Thus, hundreds of times more dense than in its
normal solid state allowing it to occur the fusion reaction.
Currently there are research reactors with the objective of
producing energy through this process.

Luis Sahua Villegas UNI Thermal Physics Nuclear Fusion

Confinement methods

Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF): The particles

electrically charged from the plasma are trapped in a reduced
space by the action of a magnetic field. The most developed
device has a toroidal shape and is he calls Tokamak.

Luis Sahua Villegas UNI Thermal Physics Nuclear Fusion

Bibliography

1 Controlled Nuclear Fusion

Samuel Glasstone

Luis Sahua Villegas UNI Thermal Physics Nuclear Fusion