The Decade of Atomic Fusion?

[Old Dad]

Could the decade of the 2010s or the 2020s become the decade of fusion power? http://www.newsweek.com/id/222792/page/1

Every time you read about it, it's always still another 20 to 40 years away. But at least there are several trial projects being worked on - like the one in the article. If nothing else, they all provide a learning experience for the ones involved in the work everywhere. Even though it's still trial and error, the math says it *will* work and i fully believe that we'll eventually get there.

Just thinking about what it will mean is enough for celebration! The process produces no nuclear waste - just helium. Yes, there is *some* waste but it's all in the form of radiation being absorbed by the confinement chamber and really doesn't amount to much in terms of treatment and/or storage. And best of all, it will finally break the worlds dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. There are plenty of other uses all that organic material can be put to rather than producing electrical power, keeping us warm and providing transportation. As a bonus, it will greatly reduce air pollution and acid rain. Seeing Los Angeles with completely clear skies and fully breathable air is almost enough reward all by itself !!

I really, really, really hope that I live long enough to see it come about.

[Ted]

. . .

I really, really, really hope that I live long enough to see it come about.

I'm hoping we all do OD.

[Old Dad]

. . .

I really, really, really hope that I live long enough to see it come about.

I'm hoping we all do OD.

Indeed, Ted, indeed!!

[rickharris]

As I understand it Fusion is a reality now, the problem is making it stable for longer than a few fractions of a second.

On the other hand an infernal combustion engine is a series of sequential bangs so why not fusion.

The real benefit will be from generating electricity directly from the rotating plasma rather than from using the heat to make steam. Making electricity is still Victorian engineering in the end even if Nuclear power generates the heat to make the steam.

Fusion PSU in the coal shed anyone??

[Little Beast]

At the moment one test reactor is being built by the European Community in the south of France (ITER)
It's estimated to cost "only" 10 billion EUR, which is peanuts according to me. Yet, there were endless discussions among the participants how much each one would contribute.
Oh no, let's first save some rotten bank from going bankrupt and save 5000 jobs instead of solving our energy problem forever !

[Elefino]

Seeing Los Angeles with completely clear skies and fully breathable air is almost enough reward all by itself !!

Hey I resemble that remark! LA is the clearest it's been in my 62 years of living here.



Try mentioning Mexico City.

[Sunflowers]

Could the decade of the 2010s or the 2020s become the decade of fusion power? http://www.newsweek.com/id/222792/page/1

Every time you read about it, it's always still another 20 to 40 years away. But at least there are several trial projects being worked on - like the one in the article. If nothing else, they all provide a learning experience for the ones involved in the work everywhere. Even though it's still trial and error, the math says it *will* work and i fully believe that we'll eventually get there.

Just thinking about what it will mean is enough for celebration! The process produces no nuclear waste - just helium. Yes, there is *some* waste but it's all in the form of radiation being absorbed by the confinement chamber and really doesn't amount to much in terms of treatment and/or storage. And best of all, it will finally break the worlds dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. There are plenty of other uses all that organic material can be put to rather than producing electrical power, keeping us warm and providing transportation. As a bonus, it will greatly reduce air pollution and acid rain. Seeing Los Angeles with completely clear skies and fully breathable air is almost enough reward all by itself !!

I really, really, really hope that I live long enough to see it come about.

I hope so too. I'm too young to remember the "pea-souper" smogs of the 50s (besides which I lived either in the countryside or out of this country completely) but apparently they were appalling. I heard a radio programme about the London "pea-soupers" of the 50s and it got so bad in 1952 that theatres and cinemas had to be closed because the smog INSIDE the buildings was so bad that the audiences couldn't see the stage or screen!!! The audio clips at the top of that page are worth a listen too. This is an interesting article (it continues after the ads) and here is a picture from a newspaper of 1952.

We have an area in the English midlands known as "the Black Country" because the palls of black smoke hanging over the towns from steel blast furnaces and other heavy industries could be seen from miles away. You get an idea of it in these paintings from 1890, this one from around the same time as the first one and this one. Three different artists, but all the same sort of scene: brown and black with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of chimneys spewing poisonous smoke into the air which was carried by the wind for several miles - thus polluting the surrounding areas as well.

The problem we have today is that we are trying to stop developing countries from doing the same as we did, but they're turning around and accusing us of hypocrisy. Indeed, we are STILL fouling our own nests - just doing it less visibly than before.

Yes, fusion reactors have a good place but we have to stop thinking in terms of huge central generating plants and have smaller, more local ones - maybe boosted by individual solar panels and windmills for each family. Connected by a grid, yes, but we need to take PERSONAL responsibility for our environment and not leave it to "everyone else" before it's too late.

[Little Beast]

I hope so too. I'm too young to remember the "pea-souper" smogs of the 50s (besides which I lived either in the countryside or out of this country completely) but apparently they were appalling. I heard a radio programme about the London "pea-soupers" of the 50s and it got so bad in 1952 that theatres and cinemas had to be closed because the smog INSIDE the buildings was so bad that the audiences couldn't see the stage or screen!!! The audio clips at the top of that page are worth a listen too. This is an interesting article (it continues after the ads) and here is a picture from a newspaper of 1952.

I remember my first time I visited London (early nineties). I had a cold, and every time I cleaned my nose it was gray.

The problem we have today is that we are trying to stop developing countries from doing the same as we did, but they're turning around and accusing us of hypocrisy. Indeed, we are STILL fouling our own nests - just doing it less visibly than before.

It's logical that we ask developing countries not to do as we did. They can learn from our mistakes. But then we also need to stop shipping our garbage to them and stop selling them our second hand polluting machinery.
And yes, we're still far, far away from being 100% green, but don't underestimate the efforts we've made over the last 20-30 years.

Yes, fusion reactors have a good place but we have to stop thinking in terms of huge central generating plants and have smaller, more local ones - maybe boosted by individual solar panels and windmills for each family. Connected by a grid, yes, but we need to take PERSONAL responsibility for our environment and not leave it to "everyone else" before it's too late.

Large central power plants will always be necessary. I have a friend who works in a steel oven plant. Last year, during the crisis, they shut down one or two steel ovens for a couple of months. Both actions (shutting them down and turning them on) had to be planned carefully with their electricity company. They literally had to boost (or even power up ?) a power plant in order to avoid HUGE fluctuations on the grid.

That said, my solar panels are generating electricity for more than a year now.