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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: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday March 25 2019, @09:27PM (5 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Monday March 25 2019, @09:27PM (#819745) Journal

    Your heat pump will have to be at least as massive and big as the entire planet. The Star Trek stuff is pretty much off the table for now, until someone can show us everything we know is wrong.

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 26 2019, @01:50AM (4 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @01:50AM (#819843)

    The easier, and only long term, answer to continued economic growth is expansion to space.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 26 2019, @03:06AM (3 children)

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @03:06AM (#819881) Journal

      And that will become practical the moment we break the light barrier. Who's gonna be our next Chuck Yeager?

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 26 2019, @04:30PM (2 children)

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @04:30PM (#820151)

        I think people underestimate the attractiveness of Mars, Venus, the Asteroids, and even Jovian/Saturnian moons as compared to an Earth with 100B homo-sapiens resident.

        --
        🌻🌻 [google.com]
        • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday March 26 2019, @05:28PM (1 child)

          by fustakrakich (6150) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @05:28PM (#820178) Journal

          an Earth with 100B homo-sapiens resident

          That's very unlikely... We're just like any other species, we will reach a limit that cannot be extended. It's really nothing to be concerned about.

          --
          La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
          • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 26 2019, @07:51PM

            by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday March 26 2019, @07:51PM (#820260)

            It's really nothing to be concerned about.

            Overpopulations generally aren't pretty for the overpopulated species, and most don't establish equilibrium on their first boom in a new environment - which is what h. sapiens is doing now.

            --
            🌻🌻 [google.com]