Comments on "Provide Energy from Fusion"

Cecile Gonzalez
Cecile Gonzalez

PostedFebruary 13, 2008

Are you ready for fusion in your backyard? 

The good news is that the first round of challenges are clearly defined, and motivations for meeting them are strong, as fusion fuels offer the irresistible combination of abundant supply with minimum environmental consequences. 

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  • Oscar
    Oscar

    Posted 10 years and 9 months ago

    Oscar from Mexicali comments on What do you think about fusion?
    Seems to be a great source of energy that does not pollute, and that is very good.
    This is a very promising project although this still in a testing phase. I think when this is able to produce energy a controlled way and in large quantities, the technology will give a big jump.
  • waqas javaid
    waqas javaid

    Posted 11 years and 4 months ago

    waqas javaid from pakistan comments on What do you think about fusion?
    i have read that fusion reaction is done in hydrogen bomb and cant be controoled to produce electricity. i have also read when anti particles(pairs of every thing exist) reacts the particles vanished leaving energy so if we treat hydrogen with its anti.... whatever . i hope the hydrogen may be vanished with anti thing hence leaving energy
  • Paul
    Paul

    Posted 11 years and 5 months ago

    Paul from Canada comments on What do you think about fusion?
    Cavitation fusion looks very promising. It looks like a strong option for safe energy production.
  • Harold M. Frost, III
    Harold M. Frost, III

    Posted 11 years and 6 months ago

    Harold M. Frost, III from Sheffield, Vermont, USA comments on What do you think about fusion?
    The role that advanced materials development plays in the eventual feasibility (and even political acceptability) of commercial electricity from fusion via magnetically confined toroidal plasmas resulting from D-D and D-T nuclear reactions is highlighted by my comment accepted on February 7, 2012 to a Physics Today article and responding to a review by R. Goldstone of Princeton University of same title as for the 2011 book by F.F. Chen published by Springer, "An Indispensable Truth: How Fusion Power Can Save the Planet." My moderated mini-essay comment at http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v65/i2/p51_s2?bypassSSO=1, pertains to point no.4 in my separate NAE comment here (with my full name, with “Vermont,” and with leading phrase, “Providing energy from fusion”) about flexibility for students who decide to earn advanced degrees in engineering and science to prepare for careers in controlled thermonuclear energy research and/or education for civilian applications. This field is so complex, even if represented by just a small part of it such as ITER, that students will have plenty of important choices and challenges to sort out and decide among should they wish to devote their lives to helping society inaugurate, perhaps even within their own lifetimes, a future of global, even egalitarian, terrestrial energy security with minimal adverse impact on the local and regional environment (on a basis of net kW-hr of electricity generated and distributed to the grid). And one would be in error to think that the greater intellectual challenges are on the energy as opposed to materials side of the equation for eventual cost-effective, reliable, safe, and efficient tokamak systems which work and deliver on their designers’ and promoters’ promises. For example, besides the plasma physics challenge of eliminating surface instabilities within the burning fusion plasma, it is equally important to have a materials-based solution to protect the environment from their incursions into it. In fact, inadequate materials could mean an unacceptably high level of probability of massive failure in the surrounding envelope structures. Further, materials like ceramics become more attractive technically to consider than high-Z metals for reducing the masses of neutron-activated materials (such as used at or just behind the first wall) that then would have to be handled, treated and disposed of as nuclear waste. So, problems with materials can be the showstopper as well as problems with the plasma and nuclear physics.
  • Fernander
    Fernander

    Posted 11 years and 7 months ago

    Fernander from Florida comments on What do you think about fusion?
    why a perfected nuclear reactor has not been developed yet. What are the technical problems that are keeping this potential source of energy, from being developed? Why haven’t we been able to develop a controlled fusion reaction, when we were able to do so for fission reactions?
  • Keelan Moore
    Keelan Moore

    Posted 11 years and 8 months ago

    Keelan Moore from midland TX comments on What do you think about fusion?
    I have been researching fusion mainly cold fusion and ik theres ways but im targeted on pallidium and hydrogen the atomic # and mass seem to create a stable fusion but im 17 and dont know as much as a nuclear engineer but there has to be a way to create a non radioative cold fusion arc reactor.
    and is this even possible ?
  • John
    John

    Posted 11 years and 8 months ago

    John from Malaysia comments on What do you think about fusion?
    I always dreamed of creating a nuclear fusion plant .As i am so indecisive in choosing what to study,now I have to study business degree and maybe support the funding of this program in 20 years later if i ever become an investment field related job.

    I think that nuclear fission plant should be used as an example for nuclear fusion plant even though both process are opposite as both creates large amount of thermal energy which is the most fundamental way of producing electricity.

    I think that quantum computing would help in the research of nuclear fusion for it be able to be commercially used worldwide in the next 20 or 30 years .
  • EM
    EM

    Posted 12 years ago

    EM from usa comments on What do you think about fusion?
    It is very clear that fusion in terms of direct production of neutrons in a plasma is, and will be, difficult to achieve. But with promise of power densities yielding fluxes in excess of 1e22 n/cm^2 (22-30 GW), how can we not pursue innovative ideas? We must see beyond the methods of traditional power, ie electrical transmission through boiling water and turning a turbine. There are no fission products, activated species can be transmutated or allowed to decay and cool as their calf life will be short. We will be able to terra-form the earth and provide water to the most desolate places. Gasoline will be energy of the past. We will be able to make elements for catalysis such as platinum and gold by nuclear reactions and wars over resources will end. Every city will have one and power will cost a tenth of the average price per kilowatt hour. I only wonder, when it is presented to society, will society be brave enough to enter this new world or will our greed prevent us from using it for good?
  • T
    T

    Posted 12 years and 1 month ago

    T from Sydney comments on What do you think about fusion?
    Just went through a few more posts takamak might work (eventually) after another billion or two funding and 50 years when u compress using a torus magnet or electro field (shield) to stable the fusion it should generate a little power output.. Soo why not let it run free to get its maximum power output, there should be three MAJOR components to most projects, make sure your using the right materials for making fusion/ architectural in this is very important when fusion is basically running around wild inside and engineering to hold it all together... What I can't believe is that there is probably millions spent on all these degreed brains workin on this for about 50 years now and it is still being reaserched it seems very possible from what I've read over the years but at this rate maybe when I have kids there kids might see fusion powered cities/cars/bikes and so forth..... Good luck with your reaserch keep spending taxpayers money mabe someday..
  • T
    T

    Posted 12 years and 1 month ago

    T from Syd comments on What do you think about fusion?
    There has been talk of something like a fusion reactor in Switzerland and guaranteed the gov probably have the best minds in the world working on this project, I just can't believe if this is true why did it take you so long to figure out how to make a stable big enough fusion powered reactor and why is it not powering anything?? I'm no scientist but a kinda reactor like what I heard in Switzerland that fusion thing there should power a pretty big city... Mabe be cous they haven't worked out how to deliver safe ,clean FREE stable energy from it?? Fusion power mabe this world isn't ready for its just another thing worst than nuclear if created as a weapon which all it takes is for someone to create then someone to understand it and weaponise it....
  • Lynn
    Lynn

    Posted 12 years and 2 months ago

    Lynn from waldorf,md comments on What do you think about fusion?
    What if we just use the nuclear energy to help the fusion, not have the fusion get ended.? i honestly dont know if that is a correct comment... :)
  • Loren Early
    Loren Early

    Posted 12 years and 2 months ago

    Loren Early from New York comments on What do you think about fusion?
    The only issues with that Austin is the questions of A). How are we going to handle some of the pressures, i.e. what materials will be best for the reactor, but can still handle the pressures. B). What is the best way to get workers down there? Even if the control center is above the water line, there is no accounting for errors, and problems with the reactor. If you spend the amount it would cost to build this on ground let alone underwater, you would want to be able to fix it.
  • Austin Barwick
    Austin Barwick

    Posted 12 years and 5 months ago

    Austin Barwick from Triplett, NC comments on What do you think about fusion?
    Perhaps we could set up some fusion reactors at the bottom of the oceans where the pressure is already very high. Maybe this could help in keeping the plasma in the core in some way???
  • Harold M. Frost, III
    Harold M. Frost, III

    Posted 12 years and 6 months ago

    Harold M. Frost, III from Vermont comments on What do you think about fusion?
    Providing energy from fusion is one of the grand engineering challenges (GECs) that the NAE has identified and, in essence through one of its programs that recognizes Grand Challenges Scholars, proposes on a continuing basis to students to consider devoting their upcoming professional careers to, whether in education and/or research, after earning advanced graduate degrees in STEM topics. From personal experience as a Ph.D. physicist and staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in the 1980s and 1990s where and when I worked on the ITER-related materials aspect of this GEC, I know that this proposal is a fit for students in college as well as in graduate school. Just four advantages of many are cited here: (1) There are exciting summer internships at the national laboratories (such as LANL) that can be sought out for earning some extra income while developing experience and building up a resume in school preparing for an entry-level job. Also, (2) there is an ethical dimension to this career alternative, as this GEC goal for clean and green and eventually cheap and sustainable electrical energy available to everyone in principle promotes social justice and thus peace among nations. For (3), there are social and financial dimensions to working on this GEC, as (a) scientific and engineering collaborations on it will require much teamwork and tend to be global in scope, and (b) political will and funding must likewise come from many nations for such a massive undertaking to not only show break-even with the heat energy budget but also demonstrate reliable baseline electric power generation distributed to the electric grid in excess of the input power needed to sustain on a pulsed or continuous basis a controlled thermonuclear reaction that does NOT require fission for initiation. Finally, (4) there is flexibility for the student. That is, besides the types of academic departments at colleges and universities which offer M.S. and Ph.D. degrees whose relevance to this GEC may readily come to mind to students already there or prospective higher-education students presently in high school, traditional departments such as chemistry, physics, mathematics, civil engineering, electrical engineering, environmental science and engineering, and nuclear science and engineering, there are others that also are relevant but perhaps tend to be overlooked, such as materials science and engineering, engineering science and mechanics, and computer science (such as for computation and simulation). Also, many such departments feature use of the same types of technology and field equations such as superconductivity, Maxwell equations, heat transfer, and fluid dynamics, for example. Thus, there are a lot of disciplinary options available to students for developing the expertise needed to become creative as well as knowledgeable workers on this multidisciplinary GEC which probably WILL be surmounted later in the present (21st) century – surmounted much in part, I would predict, because of the fresh and new ideas, perspectives, heuristics, and energy that the younger generations of scientists and engineers will bring to bear on it.
  • Paul Maher
    Paul Maher

    Posted 12 years and 7 months ago

    Paul Maher from San Francisco, CA comments on What do you think about fusion?
    Holy Cow, How can you deny Dr's Bushnell and Zawondy of NASA, The Defense Intelligence Agency, CERN, MIT, SRI, APS, the AIP, and a host of others. It is coming like a freight train high on next to free energy. Am I ready? The world is so ready for it that I could squat right here. Let's change and TRULY GREEN the world. Energy costs hold business back. Reduce transportation, heating and electricity costs and see what happens all around the world. Am I ready? Best Regards, Paul
  • Hugh Trimble
    Hugh Trimble

    Posted 13 years ago

    Hugh Trimble from Michigan comments on What do you think about fusion?
    I believe that the best way to utilize the high energy neutrons is to envelope the plasma chamber with a beryllium lined plenum. The plenum should contain an lithium salt in molten form, which could also have dissolved and suspended compounds of radioactive waste products. The lanthanide series of materials would be particularly preferred, since they poison fission reactions and since some have a long half-life. The transmuted forms of lanthanides have shorter half-lives, so that the products can be more safely stored in a repository.
  • Vanessa
    Vanessa

    Posted 13 years and 1 month ago

    Vanessa from Phoenix, Az comments on What do you think about fusion?
    I agree that once we find a way to control fusion in a large scale, it will alter everything and the world's energy crisis may well be over. It would be a great feat that we all would hope will be discovered sooner than later. This research has been ongoing for years, and it's viability won't be until 20 or 40 years later in the future, and that's a generous guess. Our fuel resources are depleting as we speak, and in the near future, (as predicted by Mr. Hubbert, with which over previous years proven to be a very good estimate) that the peak oil production will only last within the next 2-4 years. Fuel prices will only continue to increase unless there is another reliable source for fuel. Most of the fuel produced today is used in the transportation industry which at the moment is in transition to electric energy which is great for small transport vehicles (and even with electric cars, you still need gasoline). But the aircraft industry has not yet found an alternative and electric power just won't do. Unless there is another viable alternative for jet fuel, transportation will suffer in the near future. I feel that finding alternative fuel is a more immediate need than exploring other energy sources (like fusion or solar). These are either too far in the future to be viable or just not enough energy for large transport. This is the energy crisis that we needed to solve yesterday. This should be the focus at the moment because it impacts every aspect of our global society. Although other discoveries and problems may be solved, I feel this should be the forefront of research. Until we are completely not reliant on petroleum, and have an unlimited source of fuel, the energy crisis will only worsen, and it will have a crippling effect on all our lives in the very near future.
  • alyssa hartway
    alyssa hartway

    Posted 13 years and 2 months ago

    alyssa hartway from ohio,columbus comments on What do you think about fusion?
    i thought engeneering was about cars getting fixed but now i learned somthing new that engeneering can mean somthing else!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALYSSA IS VERY+2 SMARTAHAHAAHAHAAHAHHAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!





    SICERELY,ALYSSA HARTWAY
  • Utopian
    Utopian

    Posted 13 years and 7 months ago

    Utopian from India comments on What do you think about fusion?
    I believe the world is about to be changed completely within this year. A great breakthrough has happened in Italy with fusion demonstrated at normal experimental temperatures and pressure (unlike the difficult to achieve hot fusion of ITER etc) using nano nickel powder and hydrogen with a proprietary catalyst that produced from a input of 400w an output of 12400W. Now the process of commercialisation of this technology is underway. A 1 MegaWatt Low Energy Nuclear Reactions Plant will become functional by late October 2011 using invention of Italian scientist Andrea Rossi of University of Bologna which will be set up in Xanthi ,Greece which will power a factory that will produce 300,000 10KVA LENR generators for the greek and baltic market.
    some useful links:
    http://www.journal-of-nuclear-physics.com/?p=360&cpage=10

    http://pesn.com/2011/03/17/9501791_Welcome_Worry-Free_Nuclear_Power--Rossis_Energy_Catalyzer/

    http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Andrea_Rossi's_Cold_Fusion_Energy_Catalyzer_(E-Cat):_Frequently_Asked_Questions

    http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/energi_miljo/energi/article3124295.ece
    http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/energi_miljo/energi/article3126617.ece
  • Castel
    Castel

    Posted 14 years ago

    Castel from Asia comments on What do you think about fusion?
    I've been into a hybrid fission-fusion nuclear reactor design. I can't detail how much has been done on it. But the basics of the design will show you that it is capable of generating nuclear reactions. The fission is for sure, but the fusion necessitates a few other factors; and the fission and fusion reactions involved need calibration...

    I think hybrid fission-fusion is worth considering. After all, it would be naive to think that the sun and the stars are doing just the nuclear fusion without the nuclear fission.

    I have difficulty getting R&D funding by myself. But perhaps there are those of you who could. I hope you'd be able to and I wish you good luck.

    The following link contains the basics of the hybrid fission-fusion nuclear reactor design.

    http://www.kinematicrelativity.com/apnrsys_inf.php

    If this NAE Grand Challenges thing is for real. Here's one possibility the NAE can try.