[splat]

I must be living in a cave.......FUSION reactors in the works? WTF??? How'd they do it? Was it cold? Was it hot?

Thats a good one ! I'd really like to know how they plan on doing this .

I use to work in the MIT Plasma Fusion Center and they were no where near making a Viable reactor. We had a Tandem Mirror reactor with Dual "Baseball Coils" ( the energy collectors ) when I left they were retiring that reactor , and building a larer Togamac. ( shaped like a Doughnut ). There was a long list of problem that they need to over come, and they believed that a viable reactor would not be on line till some time between 2030 and 2050, they would would haveto include some "major" discoveries. Must say it was a fun place to work.

 

[DirtyDog]

My new sig: priceless. Best I've ever had! Thanks changleen! LOL!

 

[Transcend]

blasting it into space is a huge issue. Remember the space shuttle comlumbia?

Now imagine it was filled with nuclear waste.

 

[Changleen]

My new sig: priceless. Best I've ever had! Thanks changleen! LOL!

Yeah, you should really read the news occasionally.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4629239.stm

 

[Changleen]

The fusion reactor he is talking must be the experimental ITER site in France. It isn't so much a reactor as it is a research project. They are talking 2040 for functional sites. That is assuming they can overcome the technical and scientific challenges which are substanial.

It is a prototype reactor... Therefore it is a reactor. It will produce energy which will be used by European consumers.

2040 is the date for the children of this reactor to be useful contributors. For the ITER site:"the first plasma should be possible in ITER by the end of 2016."

 

[DRB]

It is a prototype reactor... Therefore it is a reactor. It will produce energy which will be used by European consumers.

2040 is the date for the children of this reactor to be useful contributors. For the ITER site:"the first plasma should be possible in ITER by the end of 2016."

No actually the ITER plans currently do not plan on power generation for the public. There is a big difference between prototype (which it isn't) and experimental (which it is). They aren't even sure that they can create a reaction that uses less energy to start it then it actually produces.

Additionally, they aren't even sure how to build it to contain the reaction. I love this quote from Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (winner of a Nobel Prize in Physics). He said "We say that we will put the sun into a box. The idea is pretty. The problem is, we don't know how to make the box".

I'm not saying that it shouldn't be done but I am saying don't get your hopes up. Fission is proven technology and should be exploited for all its worth until fusion becomes proven.

 

[Changleen]

Uh, we do know several ways to make the box... Do you read New Scientist?

 

[splat]

Uh, we do know several ways to make the box... Do you read New Scientist?

yeah I do know how they make the box ! I helped make one ! and the energy to hold it in place is stagering ! to hold our ( MIT's) Plasma in Place for 1 Second at 400 Million K took 25 MW/S of power to the Magnets for 7 seconds, Plus the discharge of a 1.2 farad Capactior Bank at 45 KV into an electron gun ( or a Shot from the 1 GW laser ) it would then take the Magnets 5 minutes to cool ( 2 of them required liquid N2 to do it ) and it would take 7 minutes to charge the Caps.

Also rading that Article , it is an experimental Togamac , probaly similar to the one at Princeton. Plus I personally think it would have been better in Japan. that Japanese Program was Impressive to say the least. there Tandem Mirror was 80 M long ! MIT 's was only 20 M ( MIT and Osaka had the only 2 tandem Mirrors in the world ) the Europeans were way behind the Japanese in their research.

 

[DRB]

yeah I do know how they make the box ! I helped make one ! and the energy to hold it in place is stagering ! to hold our ( MIT's) Plasma in Place for 1 Second at 400 Million K took 25 MW/S of power to the Magnets for 7 seconds, Plus the discharge of a 1.2 farad Capactior Bank at 45 KV into an electron gun ( or a Shot from the 1 GW laser ) it would then take the Magnets 5 minutes to cool ( 2 of them required liquid N2 to do it ) and it would take 7 minutes to charge the Caps.

Also rading that Article , it is an experimental Togamac , probaly similar to the one at Princeton. Plus I personally think it would have been better in Japan. that Japanese Program was Impressive to say the least. there Tandem Mirror was 80 M long ! MIT 's was only 20 M ( MIT and Osaka had the only 2 tandem Mirrors in the world ) the Europeans were way behind the Japanese in their research.

So is this method capable of containing a fusion reaction for prolonged periods of time without consuming more energy than it produces?

 

[splat]

So is this method capable of containing a fusion reaction for prolonged periods of time without consuming more energy than it produces?

The magnetic field is what holds it in place . the electron gun/Laser are what excites the plasma to start the reaction .

and that is one of the Big "challenges" they still have is how to produce that large of a magnetic field , for long peiods of time with out melting he magnets and using more energy than they consume . when I left the PFC they were getting to close to break even on engery in equaling energy out ( not including the magnetic field and vaccum containment , that is one point I forgot to mention is that all this has to be done under a "hard" Vaccum, but that is one ofthe hurdles they have gotten past. )