OK, so you know how for like 70 years people
have been talking about this dream of like clean
and basically endless energy from nuclear fusion?
Yeah, like it's always felt like this just amazing
future that's almost here, but not quite. And
right. What if I told you that with the help
of some really, really smart AI, that future
is like closer than it's ever been? Absolutely.
And that's exactly what we're going to be diving
into today on this deep dive. We're going to
be looking at nuclear fusion and some really
significant progress that's been made recently.
We saw the US Department of Energy hit this landmark
achievement of net energy gain, and now there's
this truly fascinating development coming right
out of Germany. And that's what we're going to
be focusing on today. We're going to be zooming
right in on the German facility, the Wendelstein
7X Stellarator. Yes. And we're going to explore
the truly mind -bending role that artificial
intelligence is playing in all of this. In pushing
fusion from a dream, into an actual reality.
Yeah. And our goal today for you listening is
to really understand these major milestones,
get a good grasp on the different ways scientists
are actually approaching fusion, and just see
how AI is like this secret weapon that's speeding
up the process to a clean energy future. Exactly.
For everybody. Yeah. OK, so let's unpack this
a little bit. What exactly is this like holy
grail of fusion that we keep hearing about? Well,
At its most basic level, nuclear fusion is the
process of taking atomic nuclei and joining them
together. And we're usually talking about isotopes
of hydrogen here. OK. So think of those as like
slightly different versions of a hydrogen atom.
Got it. And you're smashing them together to
create a heavier nucleus like helium, for example.
And when this happens, a tremendous amount of
energy is released. Yeah. And this is the same
process that's happening right now in our sun.
Right. What makes this so appealing is that unlike
nuclear fission, which involves splitting atoms
and creates that that long -lived hazardous radioactive
waste, the main by -product of fusion is helium,
which is inert and totally harmless. So you can
really start to see the potential there for a
safe and clean energy source. Absolutely, and
I think that contrast with fission is so important
to highlight, because it really does solve that
issue of what do we do with this dangerous waste
and how do we store it long -term? Exactly. Now,
you mentioned EIDR in France, and that's like
another major player in the Fusion world. Yeah,
it's this massive collaborative project and they're
really focused on proving that this tokamak concept
can work. So a tokamak, you can think of it like
this giant magnetic bottle. It's shaped like
a donut or technically a torus. And you use these
powerful magnetic fields to contain this incredibly
hot plasma. And plasma is just that state where
the electrons are stripped away from the atoms.
You contain that within this donut -shaped chamber.
And the scale of ITER is really, really impressive.
They have 24 superconducting magnets. So these
are special magnets that when you cool them down
to extremely low temperatures, They can conduct
electricity with virtually no resistance. So
you can get these super strong magnetic fields.
And some of these magnets weigh up to 400 tons.
Wow. They're designed to create those incredibly
strong magnetic fields that you need for this
whole thing to work. 400 tons, that really gives
you like a sense of the scale. Yeah. And the
power involved here. Sure. But I remember reading
that there's this big challenge with the tokamak
approach. Right. It's something about not being
able to run continuously, is that right? Yes,
that's a really critical limitation, actually.
So current tokamak designs, including ITER, they're
fundamentally limited to what we call pulsed
operation. So the fusion reaction tends to extinguish
itself after just a few hours. And then you have
to restart it, which is costly and energy intensive.
You can think of it like an oven that just keeps
turning itself off every few hours, which isn't
very practical if you want a continuous supply
of power. So while ITER is really important for
pushing our fundamental understanding fusion
forward and demonstrating that the core technology
works this on again off again nature of it presents
a real challenge if we want to turn it into a
Practical always on power plant for everybody
to actually use exactly right that on and off
issue with tokamaks Really does sound like a
major hurdle. Yeah, if you want to use it for
power generation Yeah, and it really makes you
wonder if there's a different way to keep that
fusion fire burning continuously, right? So that
brings us to Germany and the Vandals 97X. This
is a completely different type of machine. Yeah,
it is. They call it an optimized stellarator.
Right. So what is the idea behind that? So the
Max Planck Institute in Germany has been taking
a different approach with the Wendelstein 7x.
Now the stellarator concept itself isn't new.
In fact, it actually predates the Tokamak. Interesting.
But for a long time, it was considered less promising.
However, advances in supercomputer simulations
have really changed things. These simulations
have allowed scientists to design much more sophisticated
and effective stellarator geometries. So instead
of that kind of simple doughnut shape of the
tokamak. What are we looking at with this stellarator?
Imagine you take that doughnut shape of a tokamak
and then you twist it multiple times, like you're
wringing out a wet towel. OK. That complex shape
that you get, that's the heart of the stellarator
design. Got it. And it's not a perfect torus.
It's more like this intricate multiply twisted
band that forms the plasma confinement area in
the Wendelstein 7X. And this unique and carefully
calculated shape, which they achieved through
these elaborate supercomputer simulations, is
absolutely essential to how it performs. And
what does that specific shape achieve? Right.
Why is it so important? What's really fascinating
here is that this precisely calculated shape
ensures that every single particle within that
superheated plasma experiences the exact same
magnetic field as it travels along that really
complex twisted path. And this uniformity in
the magnetic field is essential for the stability
of the plasma and for keeping it contained for
much longer periods, without the disruptions
and instabilities that you often see in tokamaks.
Interesting. Each of the incredibly powerful
magnets that create this complex magnetic field
weighs six tons. Wow. And their precise arrangement
down to the millimeter is absolutely crucial
for keeping that incredibly hot plasma on its
path and away from the reactor walls. Because
if that hundred million degree plasma touches
the walls even for a moment, it'll cool down
instantly and the fusion reaction stops. Six
tons per magnet. And they're arranged with that
level of precision. Yeah. And I can only imagine
the kind of heat those inner walls have to withstand.
Right. We're talking about temperatures far hotter
than what a spacecraft during re -entry. Exactly.
So if you're listening just think about the most
intense heat you can imagine and then multiply
that many many times. Exactly. The inner walls
have to be built to withstand temperatures many
many times greater than that. And inside the
plasma reaches an astounding 100 million degrees
Celsius. It's at these extreme temperatures that
the hydrogen nuclei can overcome their natural
repulsion and fuse together to form helium, releasing
that huge burst of energy. And that's the same
energy source as the Sun's core. And to manage
all this heat, they've installed a very sophisticated
cooling system, which is basically seven kilometers
of water pipes snaking through the reactor. Seven
kilometers. That's an amazing feat of engineering.
Yeah. Now, with anything involving this much
power, safety is always a big concern. Right.
So what kind of safety measures are in place
with this stellarator design? So that's a really
important question. And unlike traditional nuclear
fission reactors, A runaway chain reaction or
a meltdown is just physically impossible in a
fusion device like this. The amount of fuel present
in the plasma at any given time is tiny. We're
talking about a single milligram of hydrogen.
And if there's even a small disruption in the
magnetic field or in the plasma itself, it'll
immediately cause the fusion process to stop
entirely. It's inherently self -limiting and
very safe in principle. That's good to hear.
So what was the big milestone that the Wendelstein's
7X? achieved recently that has everybody so excited.
The big achievement was that they managed to
generate and contain this high -temperature plasma
with an energy expenditure of 1 .3 gigajoules.
and they sustained it stably for over eight minutes.
Wow. Now, this particular experiment wasn't focused
on net energy gain like the US experiment was.
OK. But it showed something really important.
It showed that stellarators can provide this
long duration stable plasma confinement. Right.
And that's a big step forward in proving that
stellarators could be a viable pathway towards
continuous fusion power. OK. So eight minutes
of sustained plasma. Yeah. At those temperatures,
that's incredible. It's pretty amazing. It really
does sound. like the stellarator approach, which
was once considered less promising, is now showing
its true potential. And you mentioned artificial
intelligence playing a big part in this. How
exactly is AI helping with these breakthroughs?
This is where things get really interesting.
So AI is proving to be incredibly useful in speeding
up scientific discovery in all sorts of fields,
and fusion research is no exception. One of the
big things AI can do is run vast numbers of complex
simulations extremely quickly. And for something
as mind -bogglingly complex as the behavior of
plasma, within these magnetic fields, AI algorithms
can explore millions of potential configurations
and fine -tune tons of parameters in a fraction
of the time it would take humans to even think
of them. So it's almost like having this super
smart, super fast lab assistant that's testing
out tons of ideas at the same time. Exactly,
and it's more than just simulations. Google's
DeepMind has created AI systems that can actually
control the plasma infusion experiments themselves.
Wow. Think about all the tiny adjustments that
need to be made constantly to these magnetic
fields to keep that plasma stable. It's a crazy
complex system. Yeah. DeepMind's AI has shown
it can learn in real time. how to control those
magnets to create and maintain the plasma shapes
they want both in simulations and in real tokamak
experiments. So the AI is not just looking at
the data after the fact, it's actively controlling
the experiment itself. Exactly. Yeah. And fusion
is a particularly big challenge for AI. Okay.
Because it's this continuous and what researchers
call under -observed system. Got it. Unlike something
like a game of chess, where you have these clearly
defined turns, the plasma is always evolving.
And we can't measure all the important aspects
of it all the time with perfect accuracy. But
even with all this complexity and the limited
data, AI is making huge strides in understanding
and controlling this crazy hot ionized gas. And
it's definitely speeding up the process of developing
fusion reactors that we can actually use. It
really feels like we're on the verge of something
big in terms of how we get our energy. And it's
not just one country doing all of this, is it?
No, it's a global effort. You mentioned China's
efforts earlier, right? China is investing a
lot in this field, and they've achieved some
really impressive things with their own reactors.
They're aiming to achieve fusion reactions that
last for weeks, not just minutes. And that shows
you how seriously the world is taking this. Everyone
recognizes the potential of fusion to solve our
energy problems in the long run, and it creates
a healthy competition which could actually benefit
all of us in the end by pushing things forward
faster. So let's sum up what we've talked about
today. We've seen some really big steps taken
towards achieving nuclear fusion. The US reached
net energy gain. Right. And in Germany, the Wendelstein
7X showed that they could create stable plasma
for a long time. We also talked about the differences
in design between the tokamak with its doughnut
shape and the stellarator with its more complex
twisted geometry. And we've seen how AI is not
just some futuristic idea, but it's an essential
tool that's helping us overcome some of the biggest
challenges in this field. Those recent milestones
are really significant. They show that we're
finally making some real progress in dealing
with the scientific and engineering hurdles of
getting sustained and possibly even continuous
nuclear fusion. The Tokamak and the Stellarator
both have their pros and cons, and AI is becoming
more and more important in helping us develop
both of these designs. The dream of clean and
plentiful energy from fusion is starting to look
more and more achievable. Absolutely. This is
such an exciting time to be following this field.
It really makes you think, considering how fast
AI is advancing and this global race to harness
the power of fusion, what could the world's energy
situation actually look like in the next couple
of decades? What new breakthroughs might we see
that could completely change the game and affect
the way we power our lives? Definitely something
to think about. Some pretty profound stuff. Absolutely.
Well, that's all the time we have for today.
Thanks for tuning into this deep dive on nuclear
fusion and AI, and we'll see you next time. Sounds
good.