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Physicists Have Successfully Advanced a Key Device For Producing Fusion Power
https://www.sciencealert.com ^ | 2 SEPTEMBER 2021 | MICHELLE STARR

Posted on 09/02/2021 8:44:24 AM PDT by Red Badger

Physicists working on a type of fusion reactor called a stellarator are getting closer to actually harnessing the power of nuclear fusion.

According to a new paper, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Germany is now capable of containing heat that reaches temperatures twice as high as those found in the core of the Sun. This means physicists have been able to reduce heat loss - a major step forward in stellarator technology.

"It's really exciting news for fusion that this design has been successful," said physicist Novimir Pablant of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). "It clearly shows that this kind of optimization can be done."

Fusion power is the focus of energy development efforts around the world. Theoretically, it relies on harnessing the energy released when nuclei in plasma fuse to produce a heavier element: the same process that occurs in the hearts of stars. If we could achieve this, the benefits would be huge – clean, high-output energy that's practically inexhaustible.

That's easier said than done, however. Fusion is an extremely energetic process, and containing it isn't easy. Fusion energy was first researched in the 1940s; decades later, fusion reactors still don't produce as much energy as they lose, by quite a significant margin – although the gap is closing.

The fusion technology currently breaking temperature records is the tokamak – a doughnut-shaped loop of plasma trapped in a shell of magnetic fields, driven at high speed in quick pulses. The relative simplicity helps contain it at high temperatures, but only in bursts.

Stellarators, on the other hand, are based on an incredibly complex configuration of magnets mapped out by an AI that can steer the plasma to keep it flowing. These are quite difficult to design and build, which has resulted in stellarators that leak quite a bit of the energy produced by fusion, in the form of heat loss.

Wendelstein 7-X. (Bernhard Ludewig/Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics)

That heat loss is the result of a process called neoclassical transport, in which colliding ions in a fusion reactor cause the plasma to diffuse outwards. Its effect is greater in stellarators than in tokamaks.

Because tokamaks have their own inefficiencies, researchers at PPPL and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics sought to shape the magnets in W7-X to try and reduce the effects of neoclassical transport. And now measurements, taken using an instrument called an X-ray imaging crystal spectrometer (XICS), have shown very high temperatures inside the reactor.

These are supported by charge exchange recombination spectroscopy (CXRS) measurements, which are thought to be more accurate than the XICS measurements, but could not be taken under all conditions.

But with both data sets in agreement, it seems the stellarator was able to achieve temperatures of nearly 30 million Kelvin.

This would only be possible, the team found, if there had been a sharp reduction in neoclassical transport. They conducted modelling to determine how much heat would be lost via neoclassical transport if W7-X had not been optimized, and found that 30 million Kelvin was way out of the ballpark.

"This showed that the optimized shape of W7-X reduced the neoclassical transport and was necessary for the performance seen in W7-X experiments," Pablant said. "It was a way of showing how important the optimization was."

This exciting result represents a significant step forward in refining stellarator design, one that will inform and shape future efforts.

It's also a significant step towards a practical fusion reactor, although there's a lot more work to be done. For a fusion reactor to be practical, it needs to have not just high temperatures, but the right density of plasma and decent confinement times. While tokamaks run hotter, reducing the energy lost assures stellarator technology could still hold an advantage.

"Reducing neoclassical transport isn't the only thing you have to do," Pablant said. "There are a whole bunch of other goals that have to be shown, including running steady and reducing the turbulent transport."

With different nuclear fusion reactor technologies currently under development, it seems only a matter of time before one of them delivers. It may still be a while until energy generated from fusion reaches our power grids, but when it does, it might very well change the world.

W7-X is currently undergoing upgrades, and will recommence operations in 2022.

The research has been published in Nature.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: fusion; physics; pieinthesky; pipedream; science; stellarator; stringtheory
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1 posted on 09/02/2021 8:44:24 AM PDT by Red Badger
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To: Kevmo; Wonder Warthog; SunkenCiv

Ping!....................


2 posted on 09/02/2021 8:44:55 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

rator

3 posted on 09/02/2021 8:46:41 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (China is like the Third Reich. We are Mussolini's Italy. Weaker, a Jr partner good at losing wars.)
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To: Red Badger

But they promised to keep the final breakthrough a secret until Barr and Durham prosecuted Obama and the other Dems.
And Psaki tells the truth at a press conference.


4 posted on 09/02/2021 8:48:03 AM PDT by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
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To: Red Badger

I had a key device once.


5 posted on 09/02/2021 8:48:47 AM PDT by Eddie01
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To: ClearCase_guy

He was the most overrated actor ever on Hollywood.

I don’t know why they idolized him so.

Politics, probably..............................


6 posted on 09/02/2021 8:51:22 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Eddie01

I had a Key Buick, once..............


7 posted on 09/02/2021 8:51:55 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Eddie01

https://www.keybuickgmc.com/


8 posted on 09/02/2021 8:52:39 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

If nothing else it is a way cool looking device!


9 posted on 09/02/2021 8:54:47 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: Red Badger

So.....one of these might render Shrillary harmless even on maximum rage?? Damn, now THAT’S some tech right there!


10 posted on 09/02/2021 8:59:11 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!And test better)
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To: mad_as_he$$

30 million Kelvin ain’t ‘cool’!..................


11 posted on 09/02/2021 8:59:49 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: frank ballenger

Then it’s not happening.


12 posted on 09/02/2021 9:08:16 AM PDT by mcshot (What was once thought impossible is now here. The possibilities are frightening.)
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To: Red Badger

How could that be contained? Gonna burn a hole through “erf”.


13 posted on 09/02/2021 9:10:53 AM PDT by mcshot (What was once thought impossible is now here. The possibilities are frightening.)
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To: Red Badger

I don’t know - actors universally admired him - as one example the story of his instant transformation into Don Corleone during a screen test is pretty legendary.


14 posted on 09/02/2021 9:12:30 AM PDT by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

I could stuff cotton into my cheeks and talk like that, too......................


15 posted on 09/02/2021 9:14:21 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Looks like a surreal painting.


16 posted on 09/02/2021 9:15:18 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: Red Badger

Ya, but the George Soros/Bill Gates Population Control crowd do NOT want reliable energy.


17 posted on 09/02/2021 9:15:49 AM PDT by G Larry (Those destroying the Constitution must demonize those who would defend it.)
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To: Red Badger

Well for one thing if you could you’d probably be getting paid to do it.

For another thing the genius move was to think of it and to do so right on the spotm


18 posted on 09/02/2021 9:16:30 AM PDT by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten
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To: 17th Miss Regt

Designed by Dali?.........................


19 posted on 09/02/2021 9:16:32 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Oh good! So fusion power is only 20 years away!

FINALLY!


20 posted on 09/02/2021 9:17:30 AM PDT by Lazamataz (I feel like it is 1937 Germany, and my last name is Feinberg.)
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