1.

Write short note on interesting energy issue or issues that is happening/that hashappened in the
world and prepare for a brief presentation in class.

The Story of Nuclear Fusion Power and ITER

The declining reserves of fossil fuels and their detrimental effects on the environment have thrust
nuclear power based on fission reaction into the limelight as a promising option to energy
starved economies around the world.

Nuclear energy is a technologically proven non-fossil energy source that made significant
contribution to the world’s energy supply in the past 6 decades. There are two nuclear processes
in which enormous amount of energy is released from nuclear bonds between the particles within
the nucleus. They are:

 Nuclear Fission and

 Nuclear Fusion

In fission reactions, a heavy nucleus is split into two lighter fragments and two or three neutrons.
About 180 MeV of energy is produced in the fission of an actinide to one of its most probable
daughter pairs. This means that 1 kg of uranium (U-235) is capable of producing enough energy
to keep a 100-Watt light bulb running for about 25,000 years. All nuclear power plants in
operation today rely on controlled fission of the isotopes of uranium and plutonium.

Although fission-based nuclear reactors generate huge amounts of electricity with zero
greenhouse gas emissions, and thus was hailed as a solution not only to global warming but also
to global energy needs, nuclear energy is now seen by many, and with good reasons, as the
misbegotten stepchild of nuclear weapons programs. Besides, it is by no means certain that the
safety systems designed to shut down the reactor in the event of a runaway reaction are 100%
foolproof and will work as designed. Another area of great concern is the hazards associated with
the disposal of highly radioactive waste products.

Also the 1986 Chernobyl and 2011 Fukushima accidents have heightened our fears about nuclear
technology’s ability to provide a safe way of generating clean power.

There is another kind of nuclear energy that has been powering the Sun and stars since their
formation. It is nuclear fusion—a process in which two lighter nuclei, typically isotopes of
hydrogen, combine together under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature to form a
heavier nucleus. Nuclear fusion is being developed as a prospective means of generating a
carbon- and combustion-free source of energy for use in electric power generation. At present,
research into nuclear fusion remains at the experimental stage; however, there are ongoing
international efforts to research, develop and demonstrate the technical and commercial
feasibility of the technology.
A key roadmap for the advancement of nuclear fusion – curated by EUROfusion– begins with
the experiments currently being conducted at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility in the UK.
The results of these experiments are helping to inform the design and operation of ITER, which
stands to be the world’s largest and most advanced experimental fusion reactor.

ITER

ITER(International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is an international nuclear fusion

research and engineering megaproject, which will be the world's largest magnetic confinement
plasma physics experiment. It is an experimental tokamak, a nuclear fusion reactor, that is being
built next to the Cadarache facility in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, in Provence, southern France.

ITER is a joint collaboration between 35 nations (including the European Union, China, Russia,
Japan, Korea, India and the US) and, when complete, is anticipated to be the first magnetic
confinement device to produce net surplus energy during operation. Specifically, the power
output from ITER should by ten times more than the external heating power injected into the
reactor to sustain the reactions (i.e. 50MW).Indeed, ITER should generate 500MW of fusion
power and has been designed with the broad aim of demonstrating the technologies, materials
and physics needed for commercial fusion power generation –including the ‘breeding’ (i.e.
creation) of tritium fuel – which will be essential for the future roll-out of nuclear fusion power
plant.

ITER was proposed in 1987 and designed as the International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor, according to the "ITER Technical Basis," published by the International Atomic Energy
Agency, in 2002. By 2005, the ITER organization abandoned the original meaning of the
acronym ITER, and instead adopted a new meaning, theLatin word for "the way."

Construction of the ITER Tokamak complex started in 2013 and the building costs are now over
US$14 billion as of June 2015.The facility is expected to finish its construction phase in 2025
and will start commissioning the reactor that same year. Initial plasma experiments are scheduled
to begin in 2025, with full deuterium–tritium fusion experiments starting in 2035.If ITER
becomes operational, it will become the largest magnetic confinement plasma physics
experiment in use with a plasma volume of 840 cubic meters, surpassing the Joint European
Torus by almost a factor of 10. Ultimately, learning from ITER is anticipated to form the
foundations of DEMO. If constructed, DEMO should, in principle, be a functioning
demonstration power plant capable of supplying electricity to the grid. DEMO is anticipated to
be the final step between ITER and a commercial fusion power plant and is due to come online
around 2050.

The ITER thermonuclear fusion reactor has been designed to produce a fusion plasma equivalent
to 500 megawatts (MW) of thermal output power for around twenty minutes while 50 megawatts
of thermal power are injected into the tokamak, resulting in a ten-fold gain of plasma heating
power. Thereby the machine aims to demonstrate the principle of producing more thermal power
from the fusion process than is used to heat the plasma, something that has not yet been achieved
in any fusion reactor. The total electricity consumed by the reactor and facilities will range from
110 MW up to 620 MW peak for 30-second periods during plasma operation.

Thermal-to-electric conversion is not included in the design because ITER will not produce
sufficient power for net electrical production. The emitted heat from the fusion reaction will be
vented to the atmosphere.

The goal of ITER is to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy
for peaceful use. It is the latest and largest of more than 100 fusion reactors built since the 1950s.
ITER's planned successor, DEMO, is expected to be the first fusion reactor to produce electricity
in an experimental environment. DEMO's anticipated success is expected to lead to full-scale
electricity-producing fusion power stations and future commercial reactors.

Q2. Prepare your own energy strategies for sustainable development of our nation.

Energy strategies for sustainable development of our nation

Energy is one of the essential drivers for social and economic development. A sustainable energy
supply, both in the short and the long term, is needed for enhancing economic development,
people's quality of life and protecting the environment. Availability of quality energy could
augment the productivity and the effective supply of physical and/or human capital services.
Advanced industrialized countries are able to use modern machinery and techniques for
increasing the capital-labor ratio and productivity of the workers because of the availability of
required amount of energy.

Nepal has no known major oil, gas, or coal reserves, and its position in the Himalayas makes it
hard to reach remote and extremely remote communities. Consequently, most Nepali citizens
have historically met their energy needs with biomass, human labor, imported kerosene, and/or
traditional water-powered vertical axis mills, yet per capita energy consumption is thus
“startlingly low” at one-third the average for Asia as a whole and less than one-fifth the
worldwide average. In 2010, Nepal’s electrification rate was only 53 percent (leaving 12.5
million people without electricity) and 76 percent depended on fuel wood for cooking (meaning
20.22 million people placed stress on Nepali forests for their fuel needs). This situation has led
some experts to call the country’s energy portfolio “medieval” in the fuels it uses and
“precarious” in the load shedding that occurs throughout Kathmandu, due to an imbalance
between electricity supply and demand. Nepal, however, has all it needs to escape these
problems. Large markets for improved cookstoves, biogas digesters, and solar lanterns exist
throughout the country. Independent scientific studies have calculated that the country could
meet all if its own energy needs—indeed, even the potential needs of Nepal plus many of its
neighbors—if it tapped its solar resources or its hydroelectric resources (and potentially its wind
resources). These efforts could be complemented with attempts to strengthen energy efficiency
planning, with significant potential for transmission upgrades and retrofits and more efficient
lighting practices.

For the sustainable development of our nation, in my opinion, the following energy strategies
should be work out and implemented:

 Hydropower development (both RoR and Storage) should be maximized along with other
energy resources such as Solar, wind and biomass such that to achieve the proper energy
mix.
 Capabilities of existing physical infrastructure such as road access and transmission lines
should be strengthened and new ones are added
 In transport sector, introduction of biofuels (ethanol and Bio-diesel) and electric cars and
mass transportation should be promoted.
 Reform policies to attract private sector with incentives such as soft loan and others.
 Regulatory bodies and enforcement mechanisms should be strengthened with clear
responsibilities, regulations and effective monitoring.
 The legal instruments should be reviewed regularly and adaptive measures taken so that
they remain compatible with the changing circumstances
 The integrated planning should prioritize water as the lead energy resource. WEC/WECS
should be the lead agency for integrated energy planning. All the sub sectoral institutions
in energy will integrate the sub-sectoral energy plan with the integrated energy plan to be
prepared by the WEC/WECS. The WEC should be the apex body for national energy
security and integrated planning.
 Institutional reform of the existing institutions to eliminate the monopoly. Monopoly of
(i) NEA in hydropower transmission, distribution and (ii) NOC in import, storage,
transfer and distribution of petroleum product. This will make them competitive
improving the service delivery. The syndicate system in renewable energy for example in
biogas and solar lighting should be eliminated.
 The high voltage cross-border and domestic transmission lines of different capacities
should be identified and installed in close coordination with the electricity generation
centers and Transmission Line Master Plan for effective implementation should be
prepared.
 Necessary conflict resolution mechanisms should be made functional so that most of the
water-related conflicts are resolved quickly.
 All individual and community water use rights should be registered and documented, and
regulatory compliance should be strictly enforced.
 Environment for incremental domestic capital market and foreign capital for hydropower
development should be improved
 Promotion of electricity operated small appliances, machines, with a target of complete
electrification in selected possible sectorial end-uses.
 Benefits from new initiatives like Clean Development Mechanism should be explored.
 Establishment of energy information and dissemination center to share experience and
have regular interaction among relevant stakeholder at all levels.
 Energy efficiency and conservation culture through demand-side-management should be
promoted.