Controlling Fusion Reactor Instability with Deep Reinforcement Learning with Aza Jalalvand - 682

Fusion Basics

Azarakhsh Jalalvand explains that nuclear fusion, the process powering the sun, involves fusing atoms to release energy. This concept, around 70 years old, aims to replicate the sun's energy production on Earth by creating a small, controlled sun-like environment. The challenge lies in maintaining a plasma at temperatures hotter than the sun, around 150 million degrees, within a doughnut-shaped vessel to achieve continuous energy release 1.

The whole idea is to run this plasma stable enough so that the energy that is released by this fusion is more than the energy that we injected to the vessel.

--- Azarakhsh Jalalvand

Fusion promises nearly unlimited energy, but requires stable plasma control, a task where AI and machine learning are becoming crucial 2.

   

Fusion vs Fission

Fusion and fission are fundamentally different processes for energy production. While fission splits atoms to release energy, fusion combines them, offering a safer alternative with less radiation risk. Azarakhsh Jalalvand highlights that fusion's worst-case scenario is a cooling plasma, unlike fission's potential for catastrophic failure 1.

Fusion is completely the other way around. The particles fuse together and they release energy. So it's a totally different scenario.

--- Azarakhsh Jalalvand

This safety aspect, alongside the potential for abundant energy, positions fusion as a promising future energy source, possibly within the next few decades 1.