Fusion Power

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Quackflummery power!

[Clinton Huxley]

Flimflammery power

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Mordecaiflipflopduffelcoatbunion Power!

[Clinton Huxley]

Llanfairpwllgwll......Stop That! Its Silly!

[cronus]

Fusion is fifty years in the future, it was fifty years ago and fifty years from now it will still be fifty years in the future.

[macdoc]

Ratzian power....most in the universe..resistance is futile.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Somebody say "infusions"?

[Tyrannical]

I wonder if it will work.
This isn't a prototype plant they are building, it's a giant lab experiment that may or may not even work.

I think hot fusion might just be a perpetual wild goose chase, and that cold fusion might be more promising eventually.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Research got us where we are today, so "have at 'em!"

[cronus]

Research got us where we are today, so "have at 'em!"

Most great discovery came about on a shoestring or by accident. Money buys a larger dead end mostly.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Research got us where we are today, so "have at 'em!"

Most great discovery came about on a shoestring or by accident. Money buys a larger dead end mostly.

"Most"? Bullshit.

[mistermack]

Of course fusion will work. The one in Oxford "works". They achieved fusion in it ages ago.
Achieving fusion isn't the problem, it's keeping it going, for years on end, and extracting the energy continuously that's the challenge. As I understand it, the fusion reaction is inherently unstable, and conditions have to be perfect, otherwise it just stops. It's maintaining fusion conditions constantly that is difficult, and also, designing the materials of the surrounding blanket, that can withstand the radiation for a practical period.

But all of that's been done, and this Iter just needs building.
They do say that building a running reactor will be a lot cheaper than building the first demonstration one.
Anyway, saving the world from "global warming" is supposed to be good, isn't it? Thirteen billion is chickenfeed.
And we get cheap power.

[cronus]

Of course fusion will work. The one in Oxford "works". They achieved fusion in it ages ago.
Achieving fusion isn't the problem, it's keeping it going, for years on end, and extracting the energy continuously that's the challenge. As I understand it, the fusion reaction is inherently unstable, and conditions have to be perfect, otherwise it just stops. It's maintaining fusion conditions constantly that is difficult, and also, designing the materials of the surrounding blanket, that can withstand the radiation for a practical period.

But all of that's been done, and this Iter just needs building.
They do say that building a running reactor will be a lot cheaper than building the first demonstration one.
Anyway, saving the world from "global warming" is supposed to be good, isn't it? Thirteen billion is chickenfeed.
And we get cheap power.

Extracting energy from the planets core using existing geothermal engineering technology is simpler, cheaper and doesn't need a fancy prototype.

[macdoc]

As I understand it, the fusion reaction is inherently unstable

that is a bit too short form.....what is unstable is the magnetic containment bottle that confines the plasma

There is a huge economic tsunami that results if energy becomes very cheap but that sucker will take a while to amortize.

The lack of success here was a blow to the US effort

Laser fusion put on slow burn
The US National Ignition Facility rethinks its strategy on achieving thermonuclear fusion in the lab, but fails to silence critics.

Geoff Brumfiel
11 December 2012

Lasers are used to crush pellets of hydrogen to the point of fusion inside a target chamber at NIF.
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY

Following the failure of an ambitious six-year campaign to demonstrate fusion in the lab, the US government is plotting a more methodical path for harnessing the world's most powerful laser.

The government's new plan, revealed to Nature, calls for a slower, more deliberate approach to achieving ignition: the point at which more energy is produced by a fusion reaction than is consumed. Many physicists believe that this would be an important proof of concept for controlled fusion.
http://www.nature.com/news/laser-fusion ... rn-1.12016

•••

Extracting energy from the planets core using existing geothermal engineering technology is simpler, cheaper and doesn't need a fancy prototype.

TANSTAAFL or someone would be doing it already - in particular the Japanese

It is not straight forward and one of the biggest issues is siting. Where geo-thermal is very good is in home HVAC not in base power anywhere yet outside Iceland ( unique conditions )

[mistermack]

Geothermal is abundant in Africa's Rift Valley. What's not abundant is a population with the money to pay for the plant, and distribution infrastructure.
Or to pay substantial electricity bills in the future, to justify installing all that stuff.