Fusion
"The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is now complete ladies and gentleman," Dr. Bowden announced. The project's lead scientists stood before a crowd of guests in the reactor control room. "We stand here today ready to produce nothing short of a miracle, a miracle that will usher in the end of our carbon reliance. Today, ladies and gentleman, and three months ahead of schedule, we will activate the world’s first commercially viable experimental fusion reactor!"
The crowd awed in applause. Camera shutters excessively opened and closed. Plant technicians manning their workstations smiled. Director-General Ferrer grinned with enthusiasm.
Dr. Bowden turned to a technician. "Please begin activation sequence," he smiled.
The technician nodded and began a highly coordinated series of events that would see the fusion reactor burst to life in exactly eight minutes.
"Director," Dr. Bowden gestured, "would you care to say a few words?"
"Yes, I would," Ferrer smiled. He adjusted his black tux and made his way to the front of the group.
The front of the control room was a massive continuous screen. It danced with data, decades worth of calculations and computer programming in order to efficiently, and safely, physically replicate the inner workings of a star.
"Thanks, Dr. Bowden," Ferrer kindly said, stepping into the doctor's place. "UNIRO is proud to be partner in this journey of human ingenuity," he expressed. "What we have built here today is the most complex science project in human history; our greatest evolution in energy since the discovery of fire itself. With the ignition of this reactor comes the recognition that we have firmly moved beyond our days of fossil fuel derived power, a power that has ruthlessly ravaged our planet with its crippling emissions." Ferrer shook his head. "No such emissions exist with this facility. With one pound of hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe and the fuel source of this reactor, we can produce the power of 10,000 tonnes of coal."
Ferrer took a moment to look around the dazzlingly control room. He could feel the startup sequence energizing him. Briefly chuckling to himself, he remembered a profound quote he had once read as a college student.
"We no longer run our world off of burning whale oil and wood," he smirked. The crowd chuckled at the fact. "There is no reason to believe we will continue to run it off of a combustible rock and liquid that are millions of years old, locked thousands of feet below our Earth's surface.
With the revised 2025 Paris Agreement emissions targets calling for a complete de-carbonization of our planet’s energy sector by 2050, we look to power found in the stars to guide us into a future where energy is limited not by our stock but by our imagination."
The crowd once again broke into applause as Ferrer stepped aside.
"Profound words, Director-General Ferrer," said Dr. Bowden, shaking his hand.
"Thank you," Ferrer nodded. "This machine is incredible. Such technology could one day power UNIRO bases."
"Absolutely," Bowden adamantly agreed. "ITER will produce 500 megawatts of electricity when fully operational but a full size commercial variant will be able to produce 2,000 megawatts, enough to power all of Washington D.C."
"As I understand it, fusion reactors also produce no harmful nuclear waste like their fission-based cousins. Is that correct?"
"Yes, it is. Fusion reactors do not produce long-lived radioactive waste, which is critical because the planet's current fleet of nuclear reactors is building up tremendous amounts of high-level radioactive waste. The stockpile sits in the neighborhood of…" Dr. Bowden thought for a moment. "Well… By now it must be over 250,000 metric tons. Most of it will remain dangerous for tens of thousands of years I'm afraid."
Ferrer sighed. "After the Korean War the world is all too familiar with the threat of nuclear waste."
"Well, maybe that is something UNIRO can undertake one day," Bowden suggested. "Finland is the only nation that currently has an operational permanent geologic storage site with a solid design. UNIRO could use it as a basis."
"Perhaps," Ferrer smiled. "Perhaps."
"First plasma in 120 seconds," announced a technician.
"Tokamak internal temperature holding steady at 150 million degrees Celsius," another technician read off of his controls.
"And the magnets?" Dr. Bowden asked allowed.
"Superconducting magnets are at minus 269 degrees Celsius."
"Those are astonishing numbers," Ferrer admired, holding his chin.
"The magnets confine the hydrogen plasma within the reactor vessel, keeping it away from the metal walls," Dr. Bowden explained.
"First plasma in thirty seconds."
"Here we go…" the doctor whispered with a mixture of tension and exhilaration.
"First plasma in… Ten. Nine. Eight."
"For I have become… Life," Ferrer grinned as the silent audience watched. "The builder of worlds…"
"Four. Three. Two. One…"
Nothing perceptually happened. The room remained silent, holding its breath. No alarms went off. No explosions rocked the building. No noise alluded to the stellar reaction happening only a few thousand feet away.
"Well?" Dr. Bowden said, grabbing a technician's shoulder.
The technician looked up at his controls, a smile slashing across his face. "We've done it, sir. First plasma has been achieved!"
Over an unending applause, whistles, and shouts of triumph, Ferrer looked to the tile floor, smoothly chuckling into his hand. He realized he had witnessed a moment akin to men landing on the moon. He realized humanity had become, in that moment, something more than it had just five minutes before. The tide of progression had been moved orders of magnitude forward, delving into the control of the very reactions that radiate the strength of life to the planet and beyond. Energy was now limitless, power unimaginable, and science on the brink of the divine.
"Welcome to the future," he whispered.