Posted on 12/06/2016 3:36:14 PM PST by BenLurkin
The standard design of fusion reactor is called the tokamak reactor, and it involves a ring of magnets that force the nuclear material to travel in a large circle. The stellerator design used by the W7-X reactor adds several twists to the ring to increase stability.
However, the stellerator design is still relatively untested, so a group of researchers spent the past year studying the W7-X reactor to ensure that it was working the way it was supposed to. They found an incredibly small error rate, less than 1 in 100,000, which the researchers characterized as "unprecedented accuracy."
This is good news for the W7-X reactor, which was intended as a proof-of-concept for the stellerator design. Now that the researchers know the accuracy of the reactor's magnetic fields, they can begin building new reactors that focus on efficiency.
Unfortunately, current fusion reactors, including the W7-X, are still not efficient enough to produce more energy than they use. However, the success of W7-X gives the researchers hope that the next generation of fusion reactors will be able to reach that limit.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Totally elegant design....
Uses more energy than it produces...Cool Graphic though.
In fact, I use more energy watching it than I produce. LOL.
Come back and report when they have a working reactor powering the grid.
Amazing stuff really thanks for the thread.
Does it offend muslims?
Why Nuclear Fusion Is Always 30 Years Away
By Nathaniel Scharping | March 23, 2016 11:50 am
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2016/03/23/nuclear-fusion-reactor-research/
In fact, I use more energy watching it than I produce. LOL.
Beans and beer will fix that :)
Ah...Methane! Nature’s powerhouse! :-)
The ethanol boondoggle similarly uses more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than us generated by using it as a motor fuel but continues with massive taxpayer subsidies
Cool. That’ll totally fit in the engine compartment of my Yukon XL Denali.
The 21st century’s version of the perpetual motion machine.
Fusion is the flying car of energy production... always 30 years away.
“The Arc Reactor, that was a publicity stunt! Tony come on! We built that thing shut the hippies up! The Arc was never cost effective, we knew that before we built it!”
Great design and animation but operationally needs to pull the electric plug and add fairy dust to get it over the “uses more power than it produces” hump.
Fusion is the flying car of energy production... always 30 years away.
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