Michael shoots at ITER Fusion Ractor in France
Michael visited the construction site of the world’s largest fusion reactor ITER in southern France. He spent several days in the assembly building and the tokamak to take pictures for his current "cool earth“ series. The dimensions are simply mind-blowing. Fusion is the energy source of the sun and the stars. In the enormous heat and gravity at the core of these celestial bodies, hydrogen nuclei collide and fuse to form heavier helium atoms, releasing tremendous amounts of energy.
A fusion power plant aims to mimic this process to produce infinite amounts of green energy. When completed, the reactor will contain a hydrogen (deuterium-tritium) plasma heated to 150,000,000°C – ten times hotter than the sun. In what is called a tokamak facility, powerful magnetic fields are used to confine and control the plasma. Hydrogen fuses into helium and neutrons, which contain an enormous amount of energy. Imagine if a cup of water could generate the same amount of energy as a ton of coal. This is all sound of the future, as it will take at least another decade, maybe two, to finish the construction. However, it is an exciting and promising technology that could solve all our energy problems in the future.
The artist wants to thank the team at ITER for the great support.