Posted on 08/29/2020 5:13:41 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Toroidal, or doughnut-shaped, tokamaks are prone to intense bursts of heat and particles, called edge localized modes (ELMs). These ELMs can damage the reactor walls and must be controlled to develop reliable fusion power. Fortunately, scientists have learned to tame these ELMs by applying spiraling rippled magnetic fields to the surface of the plasma that fuels fusion reactions. However, the taming of ELMs requires very specific conditions that limit the operational flexibility of tokamak reactors.
Now, researchers at PPPL and GA have developed a model that... accurately reproduces the conditions for ELM suppression in the DIII-D National Fusion Facility that GA operates for DOE. The model predicts the conditions under which ELM suppression should extend over a wider range of operating conditions in the tokamak than previously thought possible. The work presents important predictions for how to optimize the effectiveness of ELM suppression in ITER, the massive international fusion device under construction in the south of France to demonstrate the feasibility of fusion power.
PPPL physicists Qiming Hu and Raffi Nazikian are the lead authors of a paper describing the model in Physical Review Letters. They note that under normal conditions the rippled magnetic field can only suppress ELMs for very precise values of the plasma current that produces the magnetic fields that confine the plasma. This creates a problem because tokamak reactors must operate over a wide range of plasma current to explore and optimize the conditions required to generate fusion power
The authors show how, by modifying the structure of the helical magnetic ripples applied to the plasma, ELMs should be eliminated over a wider range of plasma current with improved generation of fusion power. Hu believes the findings could provide ITER with the wide operational flexibility it will need to demonstrate the practicality of fusion energy.
(Excerpt) Read more at scitechdaily.com ...
The last thing they want is abundant, clean energy which would enable prosperity for the masses.
They envision a life of poverty and dependence for you, me and everyone else.
Thought it was done already. I saw it as a home device in a movie somewhere.
I believe that IF we found a way to create abundant, clean energy in a way that didnt require massive facilities, it would be suppressed for safety.
Imagine a world where you had the power of fusion in a coffee grinder like in back to the future. Terrorists would be able to create massive energy bursts anywhere, any time.
Not long ago there was a great but lengthy article by an experienced nuclear physicist who had years in fusion research PROVING conclusively why fusion would never work in the real world.
The energy requirements/demand just to start the process - let alone maintain it - are beyond imagination, and cost.
Let me know if you want me to find it and post it.
If liquid sodium is good enough for cooling fission reactors, with water on the other side of a metal pipe, we might as well use lithium for fusion reactors.
A lot of silly comments re. Fusion Energy. I take a contrary view of it and show an analogy.
Through most of maritime history, ocean navigators could not determine exactly where they were. It was first by dead reckoning then later they could use something as simple as a knotted string on a stick to measure the angle of the sun to the horizon at local noon. This meant they could sail a constant latitude line from point A to point B as long as both points had a knot on their string. Longitude was impossible to measure except for infrequent fixes via a solar or lunar eclipse.
This void in ability was not really solved until about the 1700s, a functional chronometer grade clock was developed that was accurate and durable enough for shipboard use. One of these days, a controllable and practical fusion reactor will be developed.
More models as science.
Yes models are useful tools but models only make PREDICTIONS. If you are a fan of the scientific method, this is only the equivalent of a hypothesis. In other words .... it is NOT a breakthrough. To qualify as a breakthrough, the prediction has to be verified by real world observable evidence.
Understand that I am not lamenting the model. What I am complaining about is that what now passes for science is just conjecture, speculation and prediction, not actual provable and repeatable outcomes.
\rant
Didn’t Tesla perfect this tech in the early 1900’s?
PPPL?
Is that still Princeton the primary Tokamak researcher?
I’ll bet Lyndon Larouche is dancing in his grave over the news.
This is Hu. And prolly Series, as well.
They had me a Donut shaped...
All I want to know is what happened to ‘Cold Fusion’ that ‘Mr. Cold Fusion Guy’ was hyping non stop here?
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