- 2857 - NUCLEAR FUSION - what is happening with nuclear energy? Fission reactors have been shut down because of the problems with disposing of the radioactive waste. Fusion reactors solve this problem. These reactors split water into hydrogen and oxygen to get hydrogen for fuel and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere which is a good thing.
--------------- 2857 - NUCLEAR FUSION - what is happening with nuclear energy?
- What makes this so difficult? A teenager can do it. Well, the trick is that it takes more energy going in that is coming out.
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- For example, a teenager holds the new Guinness World Record for the youngest person to achieve fusion, a feat that he pulled off when he was just 12 years old.
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- His tiny reactor uses electricity to smash deuterium together, producing helium and an energetic neutron. This teen genius at a U.S. middle school has built a working, tiny nuclear fusion reactor, and made it into Guinness World Records “just hours” before his 13th birthday.
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- Using electricity to accelerate two atoms of deuterium together so they fuse into an atom of helium-3, releasing a neutron, which can be used to heat up water and turn a steam engine, which in turn produces electricity.
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- Will this compact reactor finally deliver fusion? There are some key definitions and points to keep in mind here. Oswalt is industrious and obviously very bright young boy, but he’s just one of a thriving community of homemade fusion makers. Remember the college student who tried to sell an almost-ready-to-use fusion reactor to pay his college tuition?
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- These reactors are fun and exciting, but they use far more energy than they replace, compared with the commercial power fusion projects aiming for fusion that outpaces the energy put into them. Nuclear fusion can never be a power source unless it well exceeds the energy required to reach and sustain fusion.
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- At just 12 years old, Oswalt beat the previous world record by a full two years. He joins a running list of “fusioneers” who have achieved fusion at home.
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- Fusioneers have accomplished goals ranging from winning a school science fair to earning a $75,000 college scholarship, which really shows how you have to choose your fusion audience carefully.
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- An MIT- and startup-designed fusion reactor could be testing in four years and online within 10. The scientists say this ambitious timeline is a result of careful, transparent planning, not handwaving.
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- Researchers are collaborating on a new “compact” fusion reactor that could feasibly be built and go online much faster than existing fusion reactor concepts.
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- Construction of a reactor, called “Sparc“, is expected to begin next spring and take three or four years. Next comes phases of testing and then, if the reactor reaches productive fusion, a long process of designing and building a power plant.
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- The world's largest fusion reactor begins assembly as NASA found another way into nuclear fusion. “Sparc” scientists learned some lessons from groups developing the current generation of small fission reactors as well as those with their eyes on next-generation fission, improving materials and shrinking costs.
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- A traditional ‘tokamak” like “ITER” uses a gigantic magnetic field to contain the extraordinarily hot plasma. “Sparc“, meanwhile, uses a newer electromagnet technology, with high temperature superconductors that can produce a much higher magnetic field.
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- That means a smaller amount of plasma, a smaller entire reactor form factor, and perhaps fewer problems with containing and sustaining plasma, which have thwarted existing plasma fusion projects.
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- Research programs and government projects around the world have studied the “tokamak“, “stellarator“, and other fusion reactor design for decades with relatively few milestones reached. The record for sustained fusion time is just a fraction of a second, and one industry joke goes that fusion is always 30 years away.
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- The fraction of a second on record was also totally subsumed by the massive amount of energy the host reactor used to get up to temperature and stay contained and externally cooled.
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- Fusion involves heating contained matter to at least or even many times more than the temperature of the sun, and then keeping that reaction at temperature with necessarily fussy containment. The promise of almost limitless power for almost limitless time is what keeps people searching.
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- There are also major and inherent downsides. Sparc promises to return 10 times the energy it uses as power output, which is very, very far from the “limitless energy” concept suggested by the sun.
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- Sparc has made headlines for being very transparent about what, when, and how the team behind the reactor is doing things. While that creates higher expectations, it also has the potential to build more interest and trust
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------------------------------------- Other reviews available:
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- 2851 - FUSION - how does it work in the stars? - The fusion in the core of stars can be analyzed as simple hydrogen nuclei, which are protons, fusing together to create heavier elements. Each fusion process up to the element Iron releases some amount of energy. Knowing how much energy our Sun puts out we can estimate the lifetime of our star, how long it will take to “burn up” all of this proton fuel.
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- 2850 - FUSION REACTOR - the dream of limitless electricity? A new “compact” fusion reactor that could feasibly be built and go online much faster than existing fusion reactor concepts. Construction of a reactor, called “Sparcs, is being developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a spin off company, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, is expected to begin next spring, 2021, and take three or four years to provide us limitless energy.
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- 2639 - FUSION REACTORS - for our electricity? See Review 2638 about the history of fusion reactors. When I was in high school I learned in physics class that fusion was going to replace fission and our electricity would no longer depend o fossil fuels. Electricity would essentially be free. Well 60 years later and we are still saying that “recent developments” in the world of fusion power are giving scientists newfound optimism for the elusive ‘holy grail’ of energy technologies.
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- 2638 - FUSION - from stars to electricity? How does fusion work in the stars? See the end of this review to learn how fusion works on the planet Earth. If we can get Earth’s nuclear fusion reactors working above a breakeven point they could supply all the electrical energy needs of the planet with no pollution. This review is 8 pages.
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- How Does Fusion Work in the Stars? The fusion in the core of stars can be analyzed as simple hydrogen nuclei, which are protons, fusing together to create heavier elements. Each fusion process up to the element Iron releases some amount of energy. Knowing how much energy our Sun puts out we can estimate the lifetime of our star, how long it will take to “burn up” all of this proton fuel.
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- 2434 - NUCLEAR ENERGY - Nuclear Energy is ready for a comeback in the US after 30 years in dormancy. The US does not have the money, not the expertise, not the engineers, not the teachers but other nations do and we are teaming up to make a nuclear comeback
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- 2245 -Nuclear Reactors - The UK and France are in a major shift out of nuclear power and into renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Here is where they are with this transition in 2019.
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- 2231 - NUCLEAR ENERGY - the dark side. Thousands of tons of highly radioactive spent fuel are in temporary storage in 35 US states, with no permanent solution in the works. Experts now show how to end this status quo. Will Congress listen? This review presents the dark side of nuclear power in the US, nuclear waste.
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- 2225 - Nuclear Energy is the only large scale, cost effective energy source that will reduce greenhouse emissions. Wind and Solar will help, but they can not supply the huge baseload of power needed. Coal, nuclear, or hydroelectric are left. Natural gas will be expensive. Hydroelectric is at capacity and can not be expanded. Nuclear becomes the only viable option to substitute for coal.
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- 701 - Nuclear energy is ready for a come back in the US. The 400 plants in the world will grow to 568 by 2020.
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- 689 Nuclear terrorism potential is evaluated. There was over 3,600,000 pounds of nuclear material spread around the world in 2006
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- 636 - Iran enriches uranium.
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- October 10, 2020 2857
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--------------------- --- Saturday, October 10, 2020 ---------------------------
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