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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 29 2020, @08:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the insert-tab-τ317.25α2'-into-slot-σ902.44β9' dept.

Scientists Start Assembling the World's Largest Nuclear Fusion Experiment:

Fourteen years after receiving the official go-ahead, scientists on Tuesday began assembling a giant machine in southern France designed to demonstrate that nuclear fusion, the process which powers the Sun, can be a safe and viable energy source on Earth.

The groundbreaking multinational experiment, known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), has seen components arrive in the tiny commune of Saint-Paul-les-Durance from production sites worldwide in recent months.

They will now be painstakingly put together to complete what is described by ITER as the "world's largest puzzle".

The experimental plant's goal is to demonstrate that fusion power can be generated sustainably, and safely, on a commercial scale, with initial experiments set to begin in December 2025.

[...] Some 2,300 people are at work on site to put the massive machine together.

"Constructing the machine piece by piece will be like assembling a three-dimensional puzzle on an intricate timeline," said ITER's director general Bernard Bigot.

"Every aspect of project management, systems engineering, risk management and logistics of the machine assembly must perform together with the precision of a Swiss watch," he said, adding: "We have a complicated script to follow over the next few years."

[...] It could reach full power by 2035, but as an experimental project, it is not designed to produce electricity.

If the technology proves feasible, future fusion reactors would be capable of powering two million homes each at an operational cost comparable to those of conventional nuclear reactors, Bigot said.

[...] The ITER project is running five years behind schedule and has seen its initial budget triple to some 20 billion euros (US$23.4 billion).


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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday July 29 2020, @05:01PM (4 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 29 2020, @05:01PM (#1028178) Journal

    You seem to suggest something like skipping iteration and jumping right to a hash table where the answer just pops out?

    Why use a hash table when it is simpler to iterate until you find the answer you want?

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    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday July 29 2020, @07:01PM (3 children)

    by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday July 29 2020, @07:01PM (#1028234)

    You seem to suggest something like skipping iteration and jumping right to a hash table where the answer just pops out?

    Why use a hash table when it is simpler to iterate until you find the answer you want?

    Because hashes are O(1) instead of O(n)? [wikipedia.org]

    The counterargument to parent's post isn't to say "okay, according to your own analogy you're wrong"; it's pointing out that their analogy is flawed.

    Iteration may be "simpler", but when you're talking about millions of rows, hashes are a hell of a lot faster.

    --
    "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday July 29 2020, @07:18PM (2 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 29 2020, @07:18PM (#1028240) Journal

      (I thought the joke would go without saying that I understand the difference, but I guess not.)

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday July 29 2020, @08:28PM (1 child)

        by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday July 29 2020, @08:28PM (#1028277)

        Oh right, you're that poster who somebody else told me "assume everything he says is sarcasm", aren't you.

        This is exactly why Poe's Law is a thing.

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        "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
        • (Score: 1, Offtopic) by DannyB on Wednesday July 29 2020, @09:45PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 29 2020, @09:45PM (#1028315) Journal

          You don't get the title of Senior Software Developer unless you know what you're doing.*

          10 WRITE CODE
          20 GOSUB 10
          30 PROFIT

          *depending on how your company picks this title, which I had no part in selecting. I just noticed it one day.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.