Posted on 06/22/2006 7:23:08 PM PDT by aculeus
The world's biggest ever nuclear fusion reactor is about to begin construction in the hills of Provence. But with persistent doubts over fusion's capacity to generate energy efficiently and a raft of engineering conundrums, is this really money well spent?
They call themselves "fusion gypsies"—scientists who have travelled the world, moving from one nuclear reactor to the next, living the dream that some day, somewhere, they can re-create the reactions that take place in the heart of the stars to generate huge amounts of cheap, clean electricity for the world.
Their goal is nuclear power, but not as we know it. This is fusion and not fission. Fission involves mining, processing and irradiating vast amounts of uranium, and leaving behind an even larger legacy of radioactive waste with half-lives stretching into the next ice age. Whereas, say the fusion gypsies, a small vanload of fuel supplied to a fusion power station could supply the electricity needs of a city of 1m people for a year, and leave behind only paltry amounts of radioactive waste that will decay to nothing within a century.
Fission reactors split atoms to make power; fusion reactors force the elemental particles of the universe together till they fuse, releasing energy in the process. Fusion powers the sun, the gypsies say, and one day it could power the world's electricity grids too.
Fusion research got going in the 1950s. The first fusion gypsies are approaching retirement. But scientific progress has been slow and funding sporadic. They have yet to see a watt of power delivered to any grid anywhere. But earlier this year, after more than a decade in the doldrums, the gypsies had their biggest boost, when governments representing most of the world's population decided to invest $10bn in trying to make the dream come true.
(Excerpt) Read more at prospect-magazine.co.uk ...
I'm in favor of funding research into all energy alternatives as long as our current energy dollars are going to fund islamic terrorists.
Bring on the Fusion gypsies and let the experimenting begin. Heck, I'd risk letting Doc Ock experiment rather than fund Islamies.
Well said. Let Fusion Power be our next Marshall Project.
Fusion has to be possible.
It would be unlike God to dangle these luscious grapes so close, and continually snatch them back out of our reach.
The longest sustained reaction is only about 40 seconds so they have a long way to go.
Nothing but a pipe dream. If it sounds so good, private firms would have leaped in and spent millions already.
The good news, though, is that the Iranians have decided to take on the expense of researching nuclear fusion.
And I'm sure that they are interested in producing electricity rather than the H-bomb.
"Millions" wouldn't even be a start.
Pipe dream? Gee, wonder how many jewels of current technology were considered that.
Probably, those perfessers are all dead now, like the lies they told us about pie-in-the-sky technology. "Too cheap to meter." Right.
Fusion, where are you when we need you?
We are at that stage in fusion development where once we stood in aviation. The learned scientist has pronounced it impossible.
Whoopee! It shouldn't be too much longer now!
We have the superconductors, and the powerful magnets. We have a functional design philosophy.
We need to concentrate on finding or creating the proper materials, and an elegant design of them which will allow for repeatable fusion conditions.
I find it curious that there was no mention of a pinch tube.
Libertarian dogma alert.
You are in sore need of taking a basic microeconomics class. Pay particular attention to the section on externalities and public goods.
You're still talking about fusion right?
In the mean time, with Yucca mountain open, existing breeder reactor technology, and hydrogen-powered automobiles, we're very close to being able to supply all our energy needs with fission. If we had the political will, we could be there within a decade.
I really wish president Bush would be spending his political capital on something like this rather than illegal alien amnesty insanity. Kind of shows where his priorities lie.
Yes, one of the few areas where faith and science can safely mingle.
It appears that the principle sticking point at the moment, as it has always been, is containment. Clearly, the fusion initiation has to occur in staged development. The large containment and acceleration rings will simply be the preboost devices. It may even be necessary or advisable to separate the Deuterium from the Tritium, and have them orbiting in individual tracks, and opposite directions.
Then at the appropriate moment, all elements are brought together in a single area -- Deuterium nucleii from the left, Tritium nucleii from the right, injected microwave energy, perhaps some specially tuned laser excitement, and a magnetohydrodynamic quenching system to extract the energy and provide initial cooling.
It may be that this special portion of the chamber has to be built almost atom by atom, in order to channel and contain the physical stresses and the heat, but we have learned much about such assembly in recent microelectronic construction.
Eventually, the right combinations of the right forces and materials will be found. Then the fusion generating plants will begin to shrink in size and cost.
Ad astra per aspera.
;-) Ah, okay...
I was wondering because you mentioned "luscious grapes" and described them as a forbidden fruit, all with a touch of frustration.
just for some out of the box, wild thinking.
i was thinking that if you had the proper nanotech to exactly position the atoms, had a solution for the wave equations and could produce the proper interference, you could get quantum fusion, atom by atom
of course, all this is impossible now, but maybe later.
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.