Fusion power: is it getting any closer?
Fusion power: is it getting any closer?
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Discussion

vonuber

Original Poster:

17,868 posts

195 months

Wednesday 24th August 2011
quotequote all
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/23/...

Quite an interesting article i thought.

tomw2000

2,508 posts

225 months

Wednesday 24th August 2011
quotequote all
I think it can be specc'd on the latest Nissan GTR....

thinfourth2

32,414 posts

234 months

Wednesday 24th August 2011
quotequote all
Enviormentalists want it stopped because it causes global not living in a mud hut naked and chanting

dudleybloke

20,553 posts

216 months

Happy82

15,078 posts

199 months

Wednesday 24th August 2011
quotequote all
thinfourth2 said:
Enviormentalists want it stopped because it causes global not living in a mud hut naked and chanting
hehe

Lefty

21,503 posts

232 months

Wednesday 24th August 2011
quotequote all
thinfourth2 said:
Enviormentalists want it stopped because it causes global not living in a mud hut naked and chanting
Very good. hehe

powerstroke

10,283 posts

190 months

Wednesday 24th August 2011
quotequote all
A watermelon's worst nightmare... thumbup

Otispunkmeyer

13,822 posts

185 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
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Not sure, but I heard they are building a fusion demonstrator plant in the south of france. The ITER project.

Just google ITER

Its a Tokamak reactor.... Like the one at JET in oxford, research at which has influenced the desing of the ITER reactor.

They are hoping, and I say hoping, to achieve 500MW power output for only 50MW power input. I guess the 50MW is what they need to sustain the magnetic fields in the toroid.

dudleybloke

20,553 posts

216 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
theres a few different places trying to using different methods.
i think that we are certainly on the right path but its going to take some time and a hell of a lot of money to find out.
its a facinating subject though.


Blib

48,260 posts

227 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
thinfourth2 said:
Enviormentalists want it stopped because it causes global not living in a mud hut naked and chanting
yes

article said:
Fusion energy also has its environmental detractors. When the ITER project was announced in 2005, Greenpeace said it "deplored" the project, arguing that the money could be better spent building offshore wind turbines. "Advocates of fusion research predict that the first commercial fusion electricity might be delivered in 50-80 years from now," said Jan Vande Putte, Greenpeace International's nuclear campaigner. "But most likely, it will lead to a dead end, as the technical barriers to be overcome are enormous."
These folk would never have come down from the trees.

Sonic

4,008 posts

237 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
thinfourth2 said:
Enviormentalists want it stopped because it causes global not living in a mud hut naked and chanting
Given the comments on the bottom of that article... i feel you're right frown

Frankeh

12,558 posts

215 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
Blib said:
article said:
Fusion energy also has its environmental detractors. When the ITER project was announced in 2005, Greenpeace said it "deplored" the project, arguing that the money could be better spent building offshore wind turbines. "Advocates of fusion research predict that the first commercial fusion electricity might be delivered in 50-80 years from now," said Jan Vande Putte, Greenpeace International's nuclear campaigner. "But most likely, it will lead to a dead end, as the technical barriers to be overcome are enormous."
These folk would never have come down from the trees.
Precisely. You can't succeed without trying.

tank slapper

7,949 posts

313 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
This comment made me laugh:

moron said:
Why not build the renewable energy plants (solar, wind, wave) first and then work on fusion so there's less time pressure? It all just sounds like scientists trying to justify their own existence.

And once fusion is working properly how many days will it be before the Americans weaponise it?
rofl

Edit: FFS it has been recommended 153 times.

Mr E

23,088 posts

289 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
tank slapper said:
This comment made me laugh:

moron said:
Why not build the renewable energy plants (solar, wind, wave) first and then work on fusion so there's less time pressure? It all just sounds like scientists trying to justify their own existence.

And once fusion is working properly how many days will it be before the Americans weaponise it?
rofl

Edit: FFS it has been recommended 153 times.
yes

Minus almost 60 years (1952 if memory serves)

AshVX220

5,965 posts

220 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
There is one bloke on there with some common sense;
Bloke on Komment Macht Frie said:
When the ITER project was announced in 2005, Greenpeace said it "deplored" the project, arguing that the money could be better spent building offshore wind turbines. "Advocates of fusion research predict that the first commercial fusion electricity might be delivered in 50-80 years from now," said Jan Vande Putte, Greenpeace International's nuclear campaigner. "But most likely, it will lead to a dead end, as the technical barriers to be overcome are enormous."

Good to see the loom-wreckers have been allowed their usual screech.

No Fission, No Fusion, No Genetic Modification, no this, no that.

Just windmills, and a dearth of ambition;

When the first ever locomotive was built, people like Greenpeace predicted that it would kill cattle as it passed and that any human that traveled at 40mph would die or go mad from the speed.

That all happened too didn't it?
It's also been recommended 624 times, maybe it's too intelligently written for the greenys to understand, hence it didn't get moderated. wink

Otispunkmeyer

13,822 posts

185 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
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Mr E said:
yes

Minus almost 60 years (1952 if memory serves)
Should watch the documentary about the American nuclear program. Trinity? Very good, it used to be on google videos.

I like that they think fusion is something brand new. The problem with fusion was never making it happen... It was controlling the end result to make something other than a faffan massive explosion that eviscerated everything

Frankeh

12,558 posts

215 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
Los Alamos has a great big fusion maker that basically destroys its self each time it's run.
They were going on the theory that if you can replace the parts broken quickly and cheaply then it's not that big a deal.. I think it's a kinda st philosophy.

over_the_hill

3,337 posts

276 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
Otispunkmeyer said:
Mr E said:
yes

Minus almost 60 years (1952 if memory serves)
Should watch the documentary about the American nuclear program. Trinity? Very good, it used to be on google videos.

I like that they think fusion is something brand new. The problem with fusion was never making it happen... It was controlling the end result to make something other than a faffan massive explosion that eviscerated everything
Fusion is already possible. The problem is sustaining and controlling it for longer than a fraction of a second to get something useful out.

There is an old joke in the Physics community that Fusion power is about 50 years away. That has certainly been true for the last 30 years in my experience.

thinfourth2

32,414 posts

234 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
Sonic said:
thinfourth2 said:
Enviormentalists want it stopped because it causes global not living in a mud hut naked and chanting
Given the comments on the bottom of that article... i feel you're right frown
Go find a wind farm under planning

You will find some greens demanding it isn't built

hairykrishna

14,529 posts

233 months

Thursday 25th August 2011
quotequote all
Frankeh said:
Los Alamos has a great big fusion maker that basically destroys its self each time it's run.
They were going on the theory that if you can replace the parts broken quickly and cheaply then it's not that big a deal.. I think it's a kinda st philosophy.
The z-pinch? As far as I know, like the laser fusion stuff, it's a thinly veiled weapons testing program. With the test ban treaty they need some way of validating the simulations of the secondary stage in H-bombs.