New fusion reactor about to be switched on.

[Beati Dogu]

Located at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, north-east Germany, it has taken 19 years to get to this stage apparently. Construction was completed last year, but it's so complex, they've been testing the various systems until now.

Previous donut-shaped "tokamak" designs haven't been able to control the plasma for much more than 6 minutes. They hope this "stellarator" design can do at least 30 minutes.

They're just waiting on the German authorities to give them the OK.



http://www.sciencealert.com/first-of-its-kind-germ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendelstein_7-X

[Beati Dogu]

I wish they'd put as much money and effort into researching thorium reactors, but hopefully this one will actually provide useful information and not be another costly white elephant.

[Beati Dogu]

They don't even know it'll last 30 minutes until they test it. They hope for longer though.

The problem is that these reactors typically lose containment after a short while, causing damage to themselves.

[Beati Dogu]

The last thing greenies want is cheap, plentiful energy. Their dream if for society to go back to the middle ages.

If they do crack this technology we can tell both them and the Arabs to go fk themselves. What a day that'll be.

[Beati Dogu]

Perhaps that approach wouldn't provide 20+ years of nice salaries, despite having nothing to show for it.

Either way they need to light a fire under them.

[Beati Dogu]

They're going to start firing up helium plasma this month (the 10th) and hydrogen plasma at the end of January apparently.


http://www.ipp.mpg.de/3985731/w7x_15_2

[Beati Dogu]

Well it's running now and I'm guessing from the lack of headcrabs and a glow on the eastern horizon, it hasn't gone boom.

The helium plasma ran for "one tenth of a second and achieved a temperature of around one million degrees".

[Beati Dogu]

Obesity being a prime example.






The Wail has a piece about this W7-X reactor:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-335...

Way too early to call it a success. Hydrogen is where the money shot it, not helium.

If they are successful, nuclear fusion will face massive opposition from the green blob. It has nuclear in the name for a start.

[Beati Dogu]

Well it hasn't gone bang with helium plasma, so they're going to start it with hydrogen plasma for the first time. They've asked none other than Chancellor Angela Merkel to throw the big guillotine switch and they'll be live streaming the event.

Coverage starts on 3 February at 2.45 p.m.

http://www.ipp.mpg.de/livestream_e_16

[Beati Dogu]

Here's hoping.

[Beati Dogu]

I saw some of the livestream replay earlier. It ran plasma for all of 2 milliseconds.

They want about 30 minutes by 2020. They sure know how to milk it these guys.

[Beati Dogu]

It's a good job there's no pressing need for 'green' electricity while they shut down the power plants that actually work.

[Beati Dogu]

rhinochopig said:

Amazing. The leader who killed the German Nuc industry being asked to pull the switch on a Nuc reactor.

She used to be a research physicist too, as well as being a complete fukwit.

[Beati Dogu]

The "Atomkraft? Nein danke" brigade and their tame idiot politicians have done for fission and would really like to do the same to fusion too.

For them it's a world of windmills, solar and holding hands singing "I'd like to teach the world to sing".