Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Nuclear fusion breakthrough: 'Holy grail' of power production is closer to reality as the world's biggest reactor - capable of reaching 200 MILLION degrees Celsius - is turned on in Japan
The Daily Mail ^ | 4 December 2023 | Jonathan Chadwick

Posted on 12/04/2023 7:32:09 AM PST by Alas Babylon!

It could usher an era of limitless clean, safe and affordable energy to meet the world's demand.

Now, the 'holy grail' of power production – nuclear fusion, which makes the sun and the stars shine – has come a step closer.

Scientists have switched on JT-60SA, a £500 million fusion device measuring around 40 feet in diameter, located in Naka north of Tokyo, Japan.

JT-60SA contains swirling plasma heated up 200 million degrees Celsius (360 million degrees Fahrenheit).

This is the threshold where hydrogen atoms can begin to fuse into helium, releasing sustainable energy in the process that could put an end to fossil fuels.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: fusion; nuclearpower; renewables
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-96 next last
To: butlerweave

Anything from the Daily Mail is globalist agitprop. Here on FR it is the Biden supporters go-to for Uke war propaganda. Most recently they have been fellating the Deep State’s founding member with their Kissinger obits. This article is an attempt to have people keep the faith a little longer on “all electric” while governments kill natural gas and coal.


21 posted on 12/04/2023 7:46:46 AM PST by RightOnTheBorder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

You want Godzilla? Because that’s how you get Godzilla.


22 posted on 12/04/2023 7:48:17 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Beat me to it.


23 posted on 12/04/2023 7:48:32 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

Just wait... once fusion reactors get figured out, they will start saying they cause global warming. “Water vapor is a worse green house gas than CO2!”


24 posted on 12/04/2023 7:48:36 AM PST by Sparticus (Primary the Tuesday group!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jonty30

In other news, a cure for cancer is “just around the corner”.


25 posted on 12/04/2023 7:49:04 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Go Gordon

What could possibly go wrong?

They better not lose containment or there is going to be one huge hole in the ground where Japan once was.


26 posted on 12/04/2023 7:50:13 AM PST by Bailee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SheepWhisperer
I like my tuna sandwich without radioactive isotopes

Yep, totally unnatural. Nothing but clean, natural dolphin in my tuna.

27 posted on 12/04/2023 7:50:29 AM PST by Jeff Chandler (THE ISSUE IS NEVER THE ISSUE. THE REVOLUTION IS THE ISSUE.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Go Gordon

What could go wrong and does is that it doesn’t maintain it’s hot state and drops in temperature before you get significant energy out of it. It super hot, but with almost no mass the slightest magnetic kink allows it to cool off too much. AND if you’re using tritium you produce a lot of neutrons that degrade the material in the fusion machine.


28 posted on 12/04/2023 7:51:02 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy - EVs a solution for which there is no problem)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

From this drawing it looks like they would use it simply for heat to create steam?
Same with nukes. News flash: steam power has been around for a while and has its limitations. Isn’t there some new and different way of doing what we need done? This seems like an expensive high tech solution for a simple problem- boiling water. Please tell me there is more, and that we aren’t spending $billions on making hot water. It is like freaking alchemists perpetually trying to turn lead into gold when the simple solution would be to find a use for lead that makes it more valuable than gold, or create an artificial scarcity of lead and driving the price up.


29 posted on 12/04/2023 7:51:03 AM PST by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

Just yesterday I was recalling a conversation I had here on EVs versus Hydrogen fueled . A person said the problem with H2 is the energy required to split water isn’t really worth the cost when comparing to traditional fuels or battery I suppose.

This could be a game changer on Hydrogen powered transportation. A much more affordable way to power electrolysis could be fusion. Then modify existing gasoline infrastructure to use H2.


30 posted on 12/04/2023 7:51:18 AM PST by Phoenix8
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

Just 30 years away.


31 posted on 12/04/2023 7:57:08 AM PST by VTenigma (Conspiracy theory is the new "spoiler alert")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

Just here for the Godzilla references…


32 posted on 12/04/2023 7:57:16 AM PST by pgyanke (Republicans get in trouble when not living up to their principles. Democrats... when they do.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bk1000

Agree that steam is 19th century. But I don’t think that fusion has electron scatter like fission does. The holy grail for fission reactions would be to convert the electrons directly into electricity.

imho when they perfect fusion energy—they’ll learn enough from managing magnetic fields to be able to turn fission produced electron scatter into electricity.

Not sure that the will be worth the trouble. If fusion is as cheap as they say it will become—then a lot of competing energy sources will go away.


33 posted on 12/04/2023 7:58:17 AM PST by ckilmer (ui)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

The Laws of Thermodynamics will always win. You can’t get more out than you put in.

Period.

L


34 posted on 12/04/2023 8:01:21 AM PST by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: from occupied ga
Fusion is always about 20 years away from actually producing commercial power. It’s not anywhere close to practicality. I read that you have to get about eight times the energy out that you put in the plasma to break even to account for all of the energy used by the magnets, the cooling machinery, the transformer losses, etc. and then there’s the amortization of the capital costs. I’m beginning to think that fusion energy is just a form of welfare for engineers and physicists.

I cannot disagree...

35 posted on 12/04/2023 8:03:31 AM PST by piytar (Do NOT forget Ashli Babbit!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Lurker

Theoretically, there is another “input” — the energy released by fusing Hydrogren into Helium. Example of this actually working: That big burning ball in the sky was call the sun...


36 posted on 12/04/2023 8:05:19 AM PST by piytar (Do NOT forget Ashli Babbit!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

>> History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of Man.

I love rock n roll insider music quotes


37 posted on 12/04/2023 8:07:17 AM PST by lefty-lie-spy (Stay Metal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: HonorInPa
How much energy does it take to heat the hydrogen to 300M degrees? What is the break-even point of energy in v. energy out?

Hey, you're not supposed to ask questions like that!

38 posted on 12/04/2023 8:08:01 AM PST by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Gay State Conservative
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

The byproduct of Helium will have us all talking like Mickey Mouse ???

39 posted on 12/04/2023 8:08:45 AM PST by Mr_Moonlight (Ich bin ein Irredeemable Deplorable)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Alas Babylon!

Two laws have held up pretty well over the last few decades,
Moore’s Law for processor power increases,
Zeno’s Paradox regarding the arrival of practical fusion power.


40 posted on 12/04/2023 8:10:48 AM PST by Dr. Sivana ("If you can’t say something nice . . . say the Rosary." [Red Badger])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-96 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson