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posted by takyon on Monday April 13 2015, @07:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the Big-Magnet dept.

A local affiliate of CBS reports:

General Atomics is scheduled on Friday to unveil a 1,000-ton superconducting electromagnet to be used in a 35-nation fusion energy study. According to General Atomics, the Poway-built device that's powerful enough to lift an aircraft carrier out of the water will be showcased at a news conference in Poway.

The electromagnet will be used in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor experiments in France, in which scientists will try to create a burning plasma that demonstrates the feasibility of fusion energy. Clean fusion energy has been a holy grail for researchers looking for alternatives to standard nuclear energy and carbon-based fuels. Scientists say fusion energy does not create long-term waste products or meltdown risks.

General Atomics is more well-known for their Predator and Reaper military drones. As much negativity is swirling around these parts about the military industrial complex, there could be much potential benefit from the technological progress General Atomics and others are making. What do you all think?

 
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  • (Score: 2) by fnj on Monday April 13 2015, @07:56PM

    by fnj (1654) on Monday April 13 2015, @07:56PM (#169943)

    You wouldn't use a magnet that big for a railgun. The magnet alone weighs almost ten times [wikipedia.org] as much as a battleship main turret.

    Sorry, that's not what your citation says, and it's very far wrong. The main gun turrets on the Iowa class, the iconic WW2 battleships, each weighed 2100 tons [globalsecurity.org].

    You're right that 1000 tons is pretty far-fetched for a railgun, though. Each one of those 16-inch guns in those Iowa class turrets only weighed around 120 tons, and no weapon anywhere near as massive has put to sea in any new vessel since WW2.

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