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posted by takyon on Monday March 25 2019, @06:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-so-fast dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Speeding the development of fusion power to create unlimited energy on Earth

Can tokamak fusion facilities, the most widely used devices for harvesting on Earth the fusion reactions that power the sun and stars, be developed more quickly to produce safe, clean, and virtually limitless energy for generating electricity? Physicist Jon Menard of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has examined that question in a detailed look at the concept of a compact tokamak equipped with high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets. Such magnets can produce higher magnetic fields – necessary to produce and sustain fusion reactions – than would otherwise be possible in a compact facility.

Menard first presented the paper [open, DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2017.0440] [DX], now published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, to a Royal Society workshop in London that explored accelerating the development of tokamak-produced fusion power with compact tokamaks. "This is the first paper that quantitatively documents how the new superconductors can interplay with the high pressure that compact tokamaks produce to influence how tokamaks are optimized in the future," Menard said. "What we tried to develop were some simple models that capture important aspects of an integrated design."

The findings are "very significant," said Steve Cowley, director of PPPL. Cowley noted that "Jon's arguments in this and the previous paper have been very influential in the recent National Academies of Sciences report," which calls for a U.S. program to develop a compact fusion pilot plant to generate electricity at the lowest possible cost. "Jon has really outlined the technical aspects for much smaller tokamaks using high-temperature magnets," Cowley said.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Sulla on Monday March 25 2019, @07:05PM (1 child)

    by Sulla (5173) on Monday March 25 2019, @07:05PM (#819683) Journal

    We just build Gen 4 nuclear reactors and burn the fuel we already have lying around instead of shoving in mountains and then let fusion happens when it does without suffering in the meantime.

    --
    Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
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  • (Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday March 26 2019, @10:32AM

    by driverless (4770) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @10:32AM (#820027)

    Yup. There's a big difference between wanting to accelerate development of fusion reactors and actually accelerating development. As half a century of work in this area has more than shown us, fusion reactors will always be the technology of the future. Unless it's that really big pre-built one, whose energy is harvested with photovoltaic cells.