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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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @11:32PM (4 children)
Yes. it was "millions of years." 7,700 or so of them.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Tuesday March 26 2019, @07:50AM (3 children)
Well, Ussherly [wikipedia.org] 4004+2019 = 6023 years if you are quibbling.
OTOH, if you take the view the Sun was formed in a star-forming nebula, then the process of gravitational collapse, possibly triggered by a supernova, took roughly 105 years. Without a triggering nearby supernova, it takes longer: the primordial stars were formed roughly 150 million to 1 billion years after the Big Bang. Note that these stars are known as 'Population III' [wikipedia.org] stars, and have not yet been directly observed, but there is a strong theoretical basis for their existence. The James Webb space telescope will be looking for them, amongst other things.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 26 2019, @09:15PM (2 children)
Actually, I was saying 7,700 million years, not 7,700 years.
Age of Universe: ~12,300 million years
Age of the Sun: ~4,600 million years.
You do the math. I already did.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday March 27 2019, @08:00AM (1 child)
I beg your pardon, I misunderstood your writing style.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @09:43PM
No worries. It was a little stilted.
The odd language was because I was mildly chastising the AC who said [soylentnews.org]:
I realize (note the 'z' -- not 'zed' I'm an American, damn it!) that "thousands of millions" is a reasonable (and generally more british) way to express numbers, but given the way original AC stated things, it could have been three million. Or five. Which gives exactly the wrong idea.
Yes. It was "millions" of years. Many thousands of them. I suppose AC could have said hat it was "trillions of hours" (40 and change) too.
Regardless, I've found that if you can't say what you mean, you can never mean what you say. The details are everything.
Shall we start measuring velocity in furlongs per fortnight, too?