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00:05:30More air conditioners, more data centers, more electric
00:05:33cars around the world, we're using more and more
00:05:36electricity, but there's good news, wind
00:05:40and solar power are stepping. up to meet that demand, less
00:05:44fossil fuels, more renewables, the green energy
00:05:48transition is underway, and scientists are working on
00:05:51something even bigger, nuclear fusion, it's a potential game
00:05:55changer, unlimited energy emission
00:05:58free. Join us for
00:06:02electrifying insights on this edition of DW Science
00:06:05Show. Welcome to Tomorrow
00:06:07Today. What does a donut have to do
00:06:11with the sun? what does a blowpipe have to do with a
00:06:14furnace and what happened on May 22nd,
00:06:172025? a really exciting day here at the
00:06:21Institute, it was top
00:06:23notch, but first things first,
00:06:27let's start with our everburning star and a question: can
00:06:31the sun's fusion process be replicated to produce energy here
00:06:35on earth? scientists have been trying and failing to
00:06:39achieve this for decades. we still don't have
00:06:43commercial fusion reactors, but we do have research
00:06:46facilities like Vendelstein 7x in northeast
00:06:50Germany. It was purpose built to develop
00:06:53accelerator, a giant machine named after the Latin word for
00:06:57star. Since May, it's been a world record holder in
00:07:01fusion research, title earned after months of
00:07:04experimentation.
00:07:42ionized by heater and turned into a
00:07:45plasma. Here's
00:07:48how it works: inside the machine is vacuum chamber
00:07:52shaped like twisted donut.
00:07:56Normally, tiny amount of hydrogen enters as a gas through a
00:07:59valve and is heated to extreme
00:08:01temperatures. Microwaves
00:08:05then strike the hydrogen atoms, ionizing them and
00:08:09transforming the gas into a plasma. Heated. to tens of
00:08:13millions of degrees celsius, the plasma
00:08:16discharge then stayed at those temperatures for record breaking 43
00:08:20seconds.
00:08:24this puts the lab well ahead of other major research
00:08:28facilities.
00:08:32what makes it particularly exciting is that we don't see any major obstacles
00:08:36to extending those 43 seconds to 100, 200 or
00:08:40even 500 seconds.
00:08:42of
00:08:47attempt relied a new approach,
00:08:50The successful feeding instead hydrogen gas through a valve, researchers use tiny
00:08:53frozen hydrogen
00:08:54pellets.
00:09:00They're shot in through kind of blowpipe like the ones we made back in
00:09:03school, but these pellets are propelled by pressurized
00:09:06gas. They dissolve, melt, and quickly vaporize,
00:09:10becoming plasma. constant supply of plasma,
00:09:14like shoveling coal into a
00:09:15furnace,
00:09:20the heat in this furnace is contained by magnetic fields
00:09:24generated by a complex array of
00:09:26magnets. they keep the plasma from touching the
00:09:30chamber walls because contact would cool it down
00:09:33instantly. designing the W7X magnet
00:09:37configuration required supercomputers and years of
00:09:40planning. so when can we expect
00:09:44the first fusion reactor to go
00:09:46online? a
00:09:49conservative estimate says sometime in the second half the
00:09:52century, 2060 or 2070, something like
00:09:56that, but it's pointless to speculate, because we could
00:10:00also take a much bolder unconventional approach. in fact, many
00:10:04startups are doing that. there are now about
00:10:0850 fusion startups worldwide, taking a variety of
00:10:11approaches. "they're aiming for success in the 2030s, which
00:10:15is practically tomorrow, but whether it will be the 2030s
00:10:19or the 2070s, 70er
00:10:23werden, das kann tatsächlich keiner sagen."
00:10:27For now, the scelerator is undergoing maintenance with number of
00:10:30upgrades scheduled over the next few months.
00:10:34Then W7X will be back and chasing new
00:10:37records.
00:10:42Did you know that nuclear fishing, the process behind nuclear power
00:10:46today, is considered more dangerous than nuclear
00:10:50fusion. Fish accidents can release massive amounts of
00:10:53radioactive material. as happened in Fukushima and
00:10:57Chernoble. Fusion is safer and doesn't produce
00:11:01high-level radioactive waste that must be stored safely for
00:11:04millennia, yet Finland is betting a future powered by
00:11:08nuclear
00:11:09fishion.
00:11:14The Olkiluato peninsula on Finland's west coast is
00:11:17one the country's most important energy hubs. It's
00:11:21home to three nuclear reactor units, the newest. one went
00:11:25into commercial operation in 2023. the turbine hall
00:11:29is where the massive generators are located. they're driven by heat
00:11:33from the reactor, which is how the electricity is
00:11:36produced. alquiloato
00:11:403 has capacity of 1600 megwts, making it one
00:11:44the largest nuclear reactors in the EU. the facility covers
00:11:48about 14% of Finland's electricity
00:11:50production. the company's press officer says
00:11:54public concern were minimal, we have been measuring for
00:11:5840 years this, what people fear and what, what,
00:12:01how do they like nuclear power, and they
00:12:05they like nuclear power lot today, they are not afraid the
00:12:09waste, it's not a major concern anymore, we have
00:12:13solution here in Olkylot, so the support for
00:12:16nuclear is good in every
00:12:19party, but there were some problems here
00:12:22too, construction was supposed to last from 2005 to
00:12:262009, but in
00:12:28the end it took 14 additional years. The project was
00:12:31plagued with delays including loose parts in the turbine and issues
00:12:35with the instrumentation and control system. After multiple
00:12:39repairs, the final cost had 11 billion euros, about
00:12:43four times the original budget. So we were, we were
00:12:47pioneers, so there was a long break that nobody was
00:12:50building here in western Europe nuclear
00:12:53power, so... "the readiness to
00:12:56build was not very good and also the power
00:13:00plant was new design and it
00:13:03was uh not designed in
00:13:07detail level, so plans were changed during the
00:13:11project, but there were no protests over the delays
00:13:14and soaring costs, and now the new plant is delivering
00:13:18electricity to the country, as in France, in
00:13:22Finland, nuclear energy is considered..." green
00:13:25energy, the operator has proudly called the new
00:13:28reactor Finland's largest climate
00:13:31project.
00:13:34Finland is one of several European nations investing in nuclear
00:13:38energy. New reactors are underway in France,
00:13:42Tzechia and Slovakia, while Poland is preparing to build its
00:13:45first commercial nuclear power
00:13:47plant.
00:13:55think that when you look at new build projects today, the cost
00:13:58increases they incur, the long time lines they
00:14:01involve, and if you also look at the economic costs of
00:14:05renewables today and compare that to investments in
00:14:09new nuclear power plants and other options, then I
00:14:13believe renewables will ultimately have an enormous cost advantage over
00:14:16other concepts concept.
00:14:20Finland though, has chosen the path of nuclear
00:14:23power, here, people are convinced that ultimately
00:14:27electricity will be far cheaper with nuclear power than without
00:14:30it. the finish operators don't understand Germany's
00:14:34nuclear phase out, because big country like Germany,
00:14:38very big country, so if you want to
00:14:41reach reach 100% renewables and
00:14:45electricity systems, we haven't seen it yet a
00:14:49big country, so all the best for the for this uh
00:14:52challenging effort that uh... that
00:14:56you can hopefully do without nuclear power, but the
00:15:00our solution is is nuclear and renewables
00:15:03together. the finns have also found solution for
00:15:07the nuclear waste. geologist Johanna
00:15:11savunan is on our way to the construction site near the power
00:15:14plants. at more than 450 meters below
00:15:18ground, the world's first permanent repository for high-level
00:15:22radioactive waste is taking shape.
00:15:27Underground tunnels will soon store spent fuel rods for thousands of
00:15:31years. The nuclear waste bunker has attracted
00:15:35worldwide attention. "I feel
00:15:38proud, I feel proud that we are taking action a difficult
00:15:42manner and not just waiting for some others
00:15:46to show the way. I feel that this is an
00:15:50issue that needs to be solved, and I'm I feel proud that Finland
00:15:53is doing exactly that. 300 meters long
00:15:57and carved into granite bedrock, the tunnels will one day store
00:16:01highly radioactive nuclear waste. An
00:16:05elevator will bring the copper canisters. filled with spent fuel
00:16:08elements down into the repository. each canister
00:16:12will be placed in a hole. the holes and the tunnel will be
00:16:16plugged with bentonite and the tunnel finally will be sealed
00:16:20with concrete. the onkalo repository will go
00:16:24online in 2026. the waste will remain here for
00:16:27over 100 thousand years until it is only minimally
00:16:31radioactive. radioactive waste is
00:16:34quite difficult.
00:17:07dependence, and over the past decades that's worked quite well thanks to
00:17:11their use of nuclear power, so you could say their decisions
00:17:15make sense for them, but you also need to keep in mind that other countries might
00:17:19decide things differently. there's no single correct
00:17:22choice.
00:17:26Finland believes that its repository will be a permanent solution to
00:17:30the nuclear waste problem. Germany, by contrast, still doesn't
00:17:34have a long-term storage plan.
00:18:07term storage plan for its nuclear
00:18:09waste, and the
00:18:12reactors and will supply the fins with
00:18:16electricity for decades to
00:18:18come.
00:18:23By 2030, Germany aims to generate 80% of
00:18:27its electricity from renewables like wind and solar
00:18:31power. A key part of this green energy
00:18:34transition is battery storage. It stores excess
00:18:38energy for later use when demand is high, that helps
00:18:42stabilize the power grid and prevent
00:18:45overloads.
00:18:51The energy transition is happening right here in walsom, battery
00:18:55energy storage system is being built, a 4-hour
00:18:58system. It will deliver 50 megw of power enough
00:19:02to supply a mid-sized German city of 100,000 to
00:19:0615000 people.
00:19:11for 4 hours, of course it has to make economic sense, we're a business, so it has to pay
00:19:14off. Kevin Galla is an electricity trader for
00:19:18major German energy company, soon he won't just be
00:19:22selling electricity from gas and hard cold power plants, he'll
00:19:26also be buying and storing
00:19:27it. By spring
00:19:312026, new battery system will be running
00:19:34here. It can deliver 50 megaws. of
00:19:37electricity about the output
00:19:40of a small gas plant for 4
00:19:42hours, because it's plugged
00:19:46straight into the grid, the battery can store surplus renewable
00:19:50power and release it when demand rises, turning those
00:19:53swings into
00:19:54profit.
00:19:58ultimately we're taking a business risk, but we believe flexibility is
00:20:02key for the energy
00:20:03transition. right now it
00:20:06feels like:
00:20:37price differences, but over time you scoop up the
00:20:40returns. This business model has been tested for about
00:20:4410 years with a 15 megaw pilot
00:20:47system. German grid operators have received. speculative
00:20:50requests for battery projects totaling 500
00:20:53gigawatts, far above the country's peak demand. if
00:20:57all were built, their combined capacity could for few hours
00:21:01match the output of roughly 500 nuclear power
00:21:04plants. with growing
00:21:07flexibility, more storage systems and more co-locations, meaning more
00:21:11pairing of renewable plants with ensight battery storage, the price
00:21:15gaps will gradually disappear. unterschiede langsam
00:21:18abschmelzen. On April
00:21:2128, 2025, Spain and Portugal were hit by a
00:21:25massive blackout. Volt spiked beyond safe
00:21:29limits, shutting down over 20 gigaws of plants, including
00:21:32four nuclear reactors. The grid's heartbeat its
00:21:36frequency became unstable. Could battery
00:21:40storage systems have prevented
00:21:42it? We've observed the same thing that
00:21:45happened in Spain and Portugal here in our control
00:21:48room.
00:21:53CTO at transmission grid operator Amprion, helps keep
00:21:56Germany's grid stable. He says a blackout like the one that
00:22:00happened in Spain and Portugal can't happen in Germany thanks to
00:22:04backup systems. But if batteries are to join that
00:22:07safety net, they must do more than store energy. They need to
00:22:11help steady the grid's pulse by supplying reactive power on
00:22:15demand. Das kann man so ein bisschen vergleichen mit
00:22:18dem.
00:23:20but coal and lignite are set to be phased out by 2038 at
00:23:23the latest. once they're gone, reactive power won't
00:23:27come automatically, so a formal market needs to secure
00:23:31supply. the big question is, can batteries deliver
00:23:35during the dark duldrums, those long stretches with little sun or
00:23:39wind. battery storage
00:23:43is being put to the test here. what role will they play in
00:23:46tomorrow's energy system? with mega batteries on on the
00:23:50rise, do we even need new backup gas plants at
00:23:53all?
00:23:58is a researcher at Aken Technical University, he studies how the
00:24:02power grid will need to change with the energy
00:24:05transition. These battery storage
00:24:09systems will make us much more independent. They
00:24:12allow us to turn solar power into a plannable energy
00:24:16source for 24 or even 48 hours.
00:24:24Last winter the grid came under pressure, these energy
00:24:28charts show which plants supplied power and how much.
00:24:31Up to November 1st, wind was strong, but in the following
00:24:35days it dropped. The weak
00:24:39winter sun didn't add much. Gas plants stepped
00:24:43in with up to 15 gigs and coal also
00:24:47ramped up to about 20 gigawatts.
00:26:07Batteries have the edge for short-term energy
00:26:10storage. By contrast, hydrogen can
00:26:14hold huge amounts of energy for months, but
00:26:17producing hydrogen takes a lot of energy,
00:26:21ideally from renewable sources. That's what makes it
00:26:25green hydrogen, and it's being produced in places you
00:26:29might not expect.
00:28:32like steel production, that's why government and industry are looking to
00:28:36hydrogen from africa, but
00:28:39against putting too much faith in the
00:28:41plan. we analyze
00:28:45what it costs to produce green hydrogen in Africa for export to
00:28:48Europe. we found it far more expensive than expected,
00:28:52mainly because financing costs are higher than expected.
00:28:55investment risks in many African countries are greater than for example
00:28:59in Europe. across.
00:29:33That said production in Europe probably won't ramp up quickly enough to meet
00:29:36our needs, so the question remains where else could it come
00:29:40from? Either way, it will cost
00:29:42more. Eggly study says investment
00:29:46costs are the main reason prices will sore. Interest rates
00:29:50are now much higher than the expected 4 to8%.
00:29:54In Sudan rates are over 26%. These
00:29:57unexpectedly high costs for green hydrogen from Africa
00:30:01could slow Europe's.
00:30:34clear promises and purchase agreements from Europe could help
00:30:38make some African projects possible and bring
00:30:41benefits to both Africa and
00:30:43Europe.
00:30:48What are stars made of? How many colors can
00:30:52butterflies see? Could robots have babies one
00:30:56day? Do you have science question? Then send
00:31:00it!