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Nuclear fusion is nearing a breakthrough that could redefine the future of clean energy. Also: Finland's XXL nuclear plant, Germany's mega battery, and Africa's hydrogen revolution.
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00:05more air conditioners more data centers more electric cars around the world we're using more
00:12and more electricity but there's good news wind and solar power are stepping up to meet that demand
00:20less fossil fuels more renewables the green energy transition is underway and scientists
00:26are working on something even bigger nuclear fusion it's a potential game changer unlimited energy
00:33emission free join us for electrifying insights on this edition of dw science show welcome to tomorrow
00:43today what does a donut have to do with the sun what does a blowpipe have to do with a
00:50furnace
00:51and what happened on may 22nd 2025 a really exciting day here at the institute it was top notch
01:00but first things first let's start with our ever-burning star and a question can the sun's
01:07fusion process be replicated to produce energy here on earth scientists have been trying and failing to
01:14achieve this for decades we still don't have commercial fusion reactors but we do have research
01:22facilities like wendelstein 7x in northeast germany it was purpose-built to develop a stellarator
01:29a giant machine named after the latin word for star since may it's been a world record holder in fusion
01:37research a title earned after months of experimentation we noticed things were going well it was like
01:47that works and that works so let's try this too we were still improving right up to the end so
01:55it got
01:55more and more exciting as we approached the finish line
02:00the machine is called w7x 450 people work here including plasma physicists engineers and technicians
02:11at w7x we mainly produce hydrogen plasmas we feed in hydrogen gas which is ionized by a heater and turned
02:20into a plasma here's how it works inside the machine is a vacuum chamber shaped like a twisted donut
02:31normally a tiny amount of hydrogen enters as a gas through a valve and is heated to extreme temperatures
02:41microwaves then strike the hydrogen atoms ionizing them and transforming the gas into a plasma
02:47heated to tens of millions of degrees celsius the plasma discharge then stayed at those temperatures for
02:54a record-breaking 43 seconds this puts the lab well ahead of other major research facilities
03:07what makes it particularly exciting is that we don't see any major obstacles to extending those 43
03:13seconds to 100 200 or even 500 seconds so it's a real breakthrough the successful attempt relied
03:23on a new approach instead of feeding hydrogen gas through a valve researchers used tiny frozen hydrogen
03:33pellets they're shot in through a kind of blowpipe like the ones we made back in school
03:39but these pellets are propelled by pressurized gas they dissolve melt and quickly vaporize becoming plasma
03:47so there's a constant supply of plasma like shoveling coal into a furnace
03:55the heat in this furnace is contained by magnetic fields generated by a complex array of magnets
04:03they keep the plasma from touching the chamber walls because contact would cool it down instantly
04:10designing the w7x magnet configuration required supercomputers and years of planning
04:17so when can we expect the first fusion reactor to go online
04:24a conservative estimate says sometime in the second half of the century 2060 or 2070 something like
04:32that but it's pointless to speculate because we could also take a much bolder unconventional approach
04:39in fact many startups are doing that there are now about 50 fusion startups worldwide taking a variety of
04:47approaches they're aiming for success in the 2030s which is practically tomorrow but whether it will be
04:53the 2030s or the 2070s is something that no one can say for sure for now the accelerator is undergoing
05:04maintenance with a number of upgrades scheduled over the next few months then w7x will be back and chasing new
05:13records
05:18did you know that nuclear fission the process behind nuclear power today is considered more dangerous
05:24than nuclear fusion fission accidents can release massive amounts of radioactive material as happened
05:31in fukushima and chernobyl fusion is safer and doesn't produce high-level radioactive waste that must be
05:39stored safely for millennia yet finland is betting on a future powered by nuclear fission
05:49the old kiluoto peninsula on finland's west coast is one of the country's most important energy hubs
05:57it's home to three nuclear reactor units the newest one went into commercial operation in 2023
06:03the turbine hall is where the massive generators are located they're driven by heat from the reactor which
06:10is how the electricity is produced
06:14a kiluoto three has a capacity of 1600 megawatts making it one of the largest nuclear reactors in
06:21the eu the facility covers about 14 percent of finland's electricity production the company's press
06:29officer says public concerns were minimal we have been measuring for 40 years this what people fear and
06:36what what how do they like nuclear power and they they are like nuclear power a lot today they are
06:43not
06:44afraid of the waste it's not a major concern anymore we have a solution here in old kiluoto so the
06:51support for
06:51nuclear is good in every party but there were some problems here too construction was supposed to last from
07:002005 to 2009 but in the end it took 14 additional years the project was plagued with delays including loose
07:09parts in the turbine and issues with the instrumentation and control system after multiple repairs the final
07:16cost hit 11 billion euros about four times the original budget so we were cut we were pioneers so
07:23there was a long break that nobody was building here in western europe nuclear power so the readiness to
07:32build was not very good and also the power plant was a new design and it was uh not designed
07:42in detail
07:43level so plans were changed during the project but there were no protests over the delays and soaring costs
07:51and now the new plant is delivering electricity to the country as in france in finland nuclear energy is
08:00considered green energy the operator has proudly called the new reactor finland's largest climate project
08:10finland is one of several european nations investing in nuclear energy new reactors are underway in
08:17france czechia and slovakia while poland is preparing to build its first commercial nuclear power plant
08:23the question is what is ultimately the better path
08:30i think that when you look at new build projects today the cost increases they incur the long timelines
08:37they involve and if you also look at the economic costs of renewables today and compare that to
08:43investments in new nuclear power plants and other options then i believe renewables will ultimately
08:50have an enormous cost advantage over other concepts finland though has chosen the path of nuclear power
09:00here people are convinced that ultimately electricity will be far cheaper with nuclear power than without it
09:07the finnish operators don't understand germany's nuclear phase out because big country like
09:13germany very big country so if you want to reach reach 100 percent renewables in electricity systems
09:22we haven't seen it yet in a big country so all the best for the for this challenging effort that
09:31that you can hopefully do without nuclear power but the our solution is is nuclear and renewables together
09:40the finns have also found a solution for the nuclear waste geologist johanna savunen is on her way to the
09:48construction site near the power plants at more than 450 meters below ground the world's first permanent
09:56repository for high-level radioactive waste is taking shape underground tunnels will soon store spent fuel
10:06rods for thousands of years the nuclear waste bunker has attracted worldwide attention i feel proud i feel
10:16proud that we are taking action in a difficult matter and not just waiting for some others to show the
10:23way
10:24i feel that this is an issue that needs to be solved and i'm i feel proud that finland is
10:29doing exactly
10:30that 300 meters long and carved into granite bedrock the tunnels will one day store highly radioactive nuclear waste
10:40an elevator will bring the copper canisters filled with spent fuel elements down into the repository
10:47each canister will be placed in a hole the holes and the tunnel will be plugged with bentonite
10:53and the tunnel finally will be sealed with concrete the oncala repository will go online in 2026
11:01the waste will remain here for over 100 000 years until it is only minimally radioactive radioactive
11:09waste is quite a difficult subject and people don't know a lot about it so people tend to be afraid
11:18of
11:18something they don't know about many finns place great trust in the work of their scientists they
11:26believe that nuclear power is the best choice and that a mix of wind power and nuclear energy will secure
11:33an emissions-free future
11:40Finland places great value on energy independence and over the past decades that's worked quite well
11:46thanks to their use of nuclear power so you could say their decisions make sense for them but you
11:52also need to keep in mind that other countries might decide things differently there's no single correct
11:58choice Finland believes that its repository will be a permanent solution to the nuclear waste problem
12:07germany by contrast still doesn't have a long-term storage plan
12:13when germany decided to phase out nuclear power in 2011 it was agreed that we would search for the
12:19best possible repository site on a white map based solely on scientific criteria
12:25that sets us apart from many countries in the world including finland where the search followed a
12:31completely different process and the public debate was very different
12:39in the world to develop a long-term storage plan for its nuclear waste
12:47and the reactors in okiluoto will supply the fins with electricity for decades to come
12:58by 2030 germany aims to generate 80 percent of its electricity from renewables like wind and solar power
13:08a key part of this green energy transition is battery storage
13:13it stores excess energy for later use when demand is high
13:17that helps stabilize the power grid and prevent overloads
13:26the energy transition is happening right here in walsom
13:30a battery energy storage system is being built a four-hour system
13:35it will deliver 50 megawatts of power enough to supply a mid-sized german city of 100 000 to 150
13:42000 people for four hours
13:46of course it has to make economic sense we're a business so it has to pay off kevin galle is
13:53an electricity
13:53trader for a major german energy company soon he won't just be selling electricity from gas and hard
14:00cold power plants he'll also be buying and storing it
14:06by spring 2026 a new battery system will be running here
14:10it can deliver 50 megawatts of electricity about the output of a small gas plant for four hours
14:20because it's plugged straight into the grid the battery can store surplus renewable power
14:26and release it when demand rises turning those swings into profit
14:33ultimately we're taking a business risk but we believe flexibility is key for the energy transition
14:41right now it feels like a gold rush prices on the power exchange fluctuate daily
14:47as seen from a july weekly chart during the day solar floods the grid and prices drop
14:54in the evening and early morning fossil plants ramp up and prices rise battery storage systems profit from
15:02those swings think of it like squirrels gathering nuts we trade every 15 minutes often the same energy
15:10again and again sometimes it's just tiny price differences but over time you scoop up the returns
15:17this business model has been tested for about 10 years with a 15 megawatt hour pilot system german grid
15:24operators have received speculative requests for battery projects totaling 500 gigawatts far above the
15:31country's peak demand if all were built their combined capacity could for a few hours match the output of
15:38roughly 500 nuclear power plants with growing flexibility more storage systems and more co-locations meaning
15:46more pairing of renewable plants with on-site battery storage the price gaps will gradually disappear
15:56on april 28th 2025 spain and portugal were hit by a massive blackout
16:03voltage spiked beyond safe limits shutting down over 20 gigawatts of plants
16:08including four nuclear reactors the grid's heartbeat its frequency became unstable
16:15could battery storage systems have prevented it
16:18we have observed the same thing that happened in spain and portugal here in our control room
16:27hendrik neumann cto at transmission grid operator amplion helps keep germany's grid stable
16:34he says a blackout like the one that happened in spain and portugal
16:37can't happen in germany thanks to backup systems but if batteries are to join that safety net they
16:44must do more than store energy they need to help steady the grid's pulse by supplying reactive power
16:50on demand you can think of reactive power like lubricant in an engine an engine needs oil to run smoothly
17:02in spain power was restored within 12 to 16 hours investigators say high voltage triggered the blackout
17:10but also note that the grid lacked stabilizing reactive power which may have made things worse
17:17technically batteries can provide reactive power right now there's no real market for it and it isn't
17:23financially viable so it's not our main focus unless we create a system together
17:32with everyone in the market we won't be able to build large-scale battery storage
17:37even though it's essential for our future grid
17:42that's a crucial point so far fossil plants have supplied reactive power almost automatically the grid
17:49operator asks for it the generators provide it and electricity flows smoothly but coal and lignite
17:57are set to be phased out by 2038 at the latest once they're gone reactive power won't come automatically
18:04so a formal market needs to secure supply the big question is can batteries deliver during the dark
18:11doldrums those long stretches with little sun or wind battery storage is being put to the test here
18:20what role will they play in tomorrow's energy system with mega batteries on the rise do we even need new
18:28backup gas plants at all
18:33diok uvasawa is a researcher at aachen technical university he studies how the power grid will need
18:39to change with the energy transition these battery storage systems will make us much more independent
18:47they'll allow us to turn solar power into a plannable energy source for 24 or even 48 hours but not
18:56longer
18:59last winter the grid came under pressure these energy charts show which plants supplied power
19:06and how much up to november 1st wind was strong but in the following days it dropped
19:13the weak winter sun didn't add much gas plants stepped in with up to 15 gigawatts
19:21and coal also ramped up to about 20 gigawatts
19:28two weeks later the wind returned
19:32fossil plants scaled back and the dark doldrums were over
19:39at that point batteries aren't enough
19:43they can still smooth demand a little
19:46but we need gas plants and in the medium term gas plants that run on hydrogen or hydrogen related products
19:58so batteries won't get us through long winter lulls but they're vital for the energy transition
20:05they're able to steady electricity prices and in the future the grid itself and with new battery
20:12sites popping up across germany that's another big advantage
20:16overall we believe the energy system will have to be more resilient
20:23it needs to be protected against malicious attacks including terrorism or even war
20:29the system will only work if the right storage units are in place
20:34and then even off the entsprechenden speicher
20:43batteries have the edge for short-term energy storage
20:47by contrast hydrogen can hold huge amounts of energy for months
20:53but producing hydrogen takes a lot of energy
20:56ideally from renewable sources that's what makes it green hydrogen and it's being produced in places you might not expect
21:09The Pfaffenhofen wastewater plant does more than treat sewage it's also hosting an experiment
21:16Andreas Herrschmann and Holger Klos lead the project
21:20their goal is to produce renewable energy locally that can also be stored
21:24inside this container hydrogen is being made
21:29here we have the heart of our power to gas system hydrogen production
21:35using 10 liters of water we can generate the same amount of energy you'd get from about 3 liters of
21:41heating oil
21:45at the back of the container the hydrogen is combined with carbon dioxide
21:50a byproduct of the treatment plant to produce methane
21:54just imagine this contains microorganisms that genetically speaking are two billion years old
22:03and now they're working for us
22:07it's amazing like a zoo or farming
22:11that's basically what we're doing here using microorganisms to improve our lives
22:18the primeval bacteria on these white discs turn hydrogen and co2 into almost pure methane
22:25and that methane can be stored
22:30what we're doing here in Pfaffenhofen is creating a model for all of germany
22:35transforming waste water plants into community energy hubs
22:41our goal is to store energy here for days when the sun and wind can't meet our energy requirements
22:50it's still a pilot program but one day it could supply the region for five days when renewables fall short
22:59green transition expert florian eggley likes the idea but says that even at scale it won't produce
23:05enough hydrogen to decarbonize heavy industry like steel production
23:10that's why government and industry are looking to hydrogen from africa
23:13but egli warns against putting too much faith in the plan
23:19we analyze what it costs to produce green hydrogen in africa for export to europe
23:25we found it's far more expensive than expected mainly because financing costs are higher than
23:30expected investment risks in many african countries are greater than for example in europe
23:37across 10 300 sites in 31 african countries hydrogen production plants for europe are in planning
23:46aegli and his team studied them and say only about two percent shown here in light yellow could deliver
23:53affordable green hydrogen to europe most are in north africa but some are further south like namibia
24:03as long as that's the case it's not worth it that said production in europe probably won't ramp
24:11up quickly enough to meet our needs so the question remains where else could it come from either way it
24:17will cost more egli's study says investment costs are the main reason prices will soar interest rates are
24:25now much higher than the expected four to eight percent in sudan rates are over 26 percent these
24:33unexpectedly high costs for green hydrogen from africa could slow europe's shift to clean energy
24:39in heavy industry and heavy industry and that means sustainability targets won't be met and that
24:46would also hurt africa europe and africa share a long and often difficult history so when we plan
24:56major investments we need to make sure they bring real benefits to local communities projects have to be
25:03designed and implemented so that local people profit from them clear promises and purchase agreements
25:12from europe could help make some african projects possible and bring benefits to both africa and europe
25:24what are stars made of how many colors can butterflies see could robots have babies one day do you have
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25:50that's all for now but we hope you'll join us again next time for more exciting stories from the
25:56world of science and technology here on tomorrow today
26:11so
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