Posted on 09/02/2016 10:59:03 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Fusion energy has long been heralded as the power-supply of the future, but the sad joke is, it always will be. The experimental energy source is perennially 30 years away from being viable on a mass-scale.
...
Conventional tokamaks are shaped like a donut, but recent design improvements have led to the creation of spherical tokamaks, which are shaped more like a cored apple and are able to generate magnetic fields to produce high-pressure plasma in a more energy- and cost-effective manner.
The two most advanced spherical tokamaks on Earth are the UK’s soon-to-be-completed Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak (MAST) and the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade at the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab (PPPL), which came online last year. As PPPL physicists demonstrated in their recent paper in Nuclear Fusion,the spherical tokamak design is a leading candidate for the creation of a fusion nuclear science facility (FNSF), which would bridge the gap between ITER, which will be the world’s largest nuclear fusion experiment when it comes online in a few years, and a commercially viable nuclear fusion power plant.
For starters, the particles in the superhot plasma created in the tokamak are very turbulent, as a result of the magnetic field used to contain them. So figuring out a way to channel them around the tokamak more effectively is key. Physicists also must experiment with the materials used to build the walls of the tokamak to ensure the purity of the plasma particles which will inevitably interact with it.
Another key design consideration for a pilot FNSF would be replacing the large copper magnet coils used by conventional tokamaks by superconducting magnets which can generate higher magnetic fields while requiring less power to cool them.
(Excerpt) Read more at motherboard.vice.com ...
The good news is the Star in the Jar is just 20 years away. /s
Yeah, still don’t have my damn flying car yet.
LOL! I’ve never seen that skit! And here I was thinking I has seen all of Dan Aykroyd’s SNL stuff. Learn something new everyday! :-)
“Bag O’Glass.....it’s a great toy, the kids love it!”
I think the only reason we don’t have flying cars is government.
Too much freedom.
They’ve been frantically trying to force us all into trains and other forms of public transportation.
Yeah, did you ever wonder what was on the ground in the Jetsons cartoon? I mean, all the buildings were up in the sky on towers, and they never showed the ground.
They never had anything but white people and robots, either. Hmmmmm...
OMG JETSONS = ELYSIUM!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QILNSgou5BY
Not a ‘star in a jar’.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/181261697
Oops!
https://player.vimeo.com/video/174733566
In the meantime we have the long developed technology for building thorium reactors relatively cheaply and small enough for one to be installed in the basement to power an apartment building. The Chinese are building thorium reactors. we are kowtowing to the degrowthers.
Think of the laser you could power with it.
Those will be reserved for a favored few and legislated out of reach, just like general aviation aircraft are today.
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