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EU wants to build world's first nuclear fusion reactor in France (?)

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L

Lord Error

Insane For Sony
There has been several VERY serious attempts to build fusion reactors in late 80s/early 90s, lots of money spent, lots of technology made, lots of stuff built, but all the attempts have failed to produce sustained fusion reaction (I think they made reactions that lasted couple of milliseconds or something like that)

Such process is of course not any kind of science fiction (stars are fusion reactors, after all) but it's technologically very difficult task.
 
G

gofreak

GAF's Bob Woodward
Hmm, dug up a bit more. Apparently this is seen as the last step toward getting commericial fusion power reactors working. This is still an experimental thing toward having large scale sustained fusion reactions..it isn't going to be a power reactor.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3993339.stm

From the BBC summary:

The project is estimated to cost $10bn and will run for 20 years
It will produce the first sustained fusion reactions
Iter is the final stage before a commercial reactor is built

Obviously it'd be a boon for France and the EU to host this.
 
D

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
What ever happened to that project that was supposed to link major EU cities with a big circular screen type thing with cameras behind it, so that people in one city could be speaking with the people in another city?
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
France already relies heavily on fission power, and with better reactors than found in America might I add.

At any rate, the problem with fusion isn't getting it to work, but getting it to produce more output energy than input energy... and as the saying goes, that's 40 years away.
 
C

COCKLES

being watched
Nerevar said:
You're probably thinking of "cold fusion" which most certainly is the realm of science fiction.
Click to expand...

Would be cheaper to round up a dozen Xbots, Psyborgs and Ninrods and squeeze them int oa reaction chamber. Enough hotair and energy produced to power the worlds electrical needs a dozen times over.
 
E

Eric-GCA

Banned
Man, why the hell can't we build more Nuclear power plants here in the USA?

I swear, if it wasn't for the envirowacko's we would have a massive surplus of power by now.
 
J

JoshuaJSlone

Member
UltimateMarioMan said:
Tell them to hurry up! BttF2 can't happen unless we have Mr. Fusion's!
Click to expand...
We could get lucky, and that's just a misleading product name. It's just some... other technology that can turn banana peels into gigawatts of electricity. ... ...
 
N

NLB2

Banned
Eric-GCA said:
Man, why the hell can't we build more Nuclear power plants here in the USA?

I swear, if it wasn't for the envirowacko's we would have a massive surplus of power by now.
Click to expand...

Nuclear fission power plants are one of the most expensive options for generating power. The reason the US and the USSR built so many was for weapons.
 
F

firex

Member
I knew it all along! This is Schroeder's plan to destroy France and remove the one obstacle keeping German cheeses and alcohol from being the best in all of Europe.
 
P

Pimpwerx

Member
Hitokage said:
France already relies heavily on fission power, and with better reactors than found in America might I add.

At any rate, the problem with fusion isn't getting it to work, but getting it to produce more output energy than input energy... and as the saying goes, that's 40 years away.
Click to expand...
Beat me to it. The russians have been leading the way in this area AFAIK. Didn't they have one of those donut-shaped fusion reactors built somewhere before the USSR collapsed? And yes, it took more power to sustain the reaction than it produced. I'm personally curious to know how they intend on controlling such a reaction if it was to actually reach the breakeven point. I mean, heat issues notwithstanding, I'm interested to know how they control the fuel supply to keep the reaction from ballooning out of control. I'm guessing the same way fusion bombs never turned into miniature little Suns in the upper-atmosphere.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for my Mr. Fusion powerplant for my Delorean. I want 1.21Jigawatts of power in my ride, MARTY!!! PEACE.
 
V

videogamer

Banned
Pimpwerx said:
Beat me to it. The russians have been leading the way in this area AFAIK. Didn't they have one of those donut-shaped fusion reactors built somewhere before the USSR collapsed? And yes, it took more power to sustain the reaction than it produced. I'm personally curious to know how they intend on controlling such a reaction if it was to actually reach the breakeven point. I mean, heat issues notwithstanding, I'm interested to know how they control the fuel supply to keep the reaction from ballooning out of control. I'm guessing the same way fusion bombs never turned into miniature little Suns in the upper-atmosphere.

Anyway, I'm still waiting for my Mr. Fusion powerplant for my Delorean. I want 1.21Jigawatts of power in my ride, MARTY!!! PEACE.
Click to expand...

Pebble bed reactors might be the way to go

http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomf...tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_bed_reactor
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Eric-GCA said:
Man, why the hell can't we build more Nuclear power plants here in the USA?

I swear, if it wasn't for the envirowacko's we would have a massive surplus of power by now.
Click to expand...
How cute. I assume they are "wacko" because they can't appreciate the natural beauty of nuclear waste.

Seriously though, don't post if you can only parrot talk radio memes. The problems associated with nuclear power are NOT to be taken lightly.

UltimateMarioMan said:
No its JIGGAWATTS didn't u watch the movies?! See its better then giga it has more letters!! :D
Click to expand...
"Jigga" is an another way of pronouncing "Giga".
 
B

Bizarro Sun Yat-sen

Banned
At any rate, the problem with fusion isn't getting it to work, but getting it to produce more output energy than input energy... and as the saying goes, that's 40 years away.
Click to expand...

Actually, the ITER design is supposed to be capable of generating (slightly) more energy than it consumes, though it won't be used for power generation.

Fusion power is still very far from being economically viable, but at this point it's basically just a very big engineering problem - there's no magical fundamental breakthrough required.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Bizarro Sun Yat-sen said:
Actually, the ITER design is supposed to be capable of generating (slightly) more energy than it consumes, though it won't be used for power generation.

Fusion power is still very far from being economically viable, but at this point it's basically just a very big engineering problem - there's no magical fundamental breakthrough required.
Click to expand...
But it wouldn't hurt. ;)
 
D

Drensch

Member
Fusion power is still very far from being economically viable, but at this point it's basically just a very big engineering problem - there's no magical fundamental breakthrough required.
Click to expand...

All you need is a 4 armed exoskeleton.
 
Z

Zaptruder

Banned
Hitokage said:
The problems associated with nuclear power are NOT to be taken lightly.
Click to expand...

And neither are the problems associated with fossil fuel energy sources.

In considering which power source is the lesser evil in a world scale... it's important to note that although catastrophic failure for a nuclear power plant is spectacular... it's limited to a small region...

But the benefits of widespride use of nuclear power extends to the entire world (or at least very large regions. (i.e. far less pollution then traditional fossil fuel sources...).
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
The products of fossil fuel burning don't have the word "halflife" associated with them, and it's not even an either-or scenario to begin with. Stop bringing up false dillemmas. :p
 
C

Che

Banned
Hitokage said:
How cute. I assume they are "wacko" because they can't appreciate the natural beauty of nuclear waste.

Seriously though, don't post if you can only parrot talk radio memes. The problems associated with nuclear power are NOT to be taken lightly.
Click to expand...

THANK YOU. The paranoia of this thread was affecting me. Since when nuclear power became good?
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Che said:
THANK YOU. The paranoia of this thread was affecting me. Since when nuclear power became good?
Click to expand...
I'm not saying the problems with fission are insurmountable, mind you. It's just that far too many don't seriously consider them, and some ingore them all together like Eric-GCA.

Oh, and nuclear power becomes good with the fusion variety. ;)
 
S

Socreges

Banned
Eric-GCA said:
Man, why the hell can't we build more Nuclear power plants here in the USA?

I swear, if it wasn't for the envirowacko's we would have a massive surplus of power by now.
Click to expand...
Haha, no kidding. Fucking envirowackos. Bastards always yelling about how we should "take care of the Earth", "be concerned about the future", and stupid shit like that. Well, what do you think the solar system is for geniuses?? So, so much land. I mean, just look at Jupiter. It's at least TWICE the size of Earth! Of course then we'll probably have so-called 'educated' libruls telling us that we can't go there, either! :lol idiots
 
N

Nerevar

they call me "Man Gravy".
Zaptruder said:
And neither are the problems associated with fossil fuel energy sources.

In considering which power source is the lesser evil in a world scale... it's important to note that although catastrophic failure for a nuclear power plant is spectacular... it's limited to a small region...

But the benefits of widespride use of nuclear power extends to the entire world (or at least very large regions. (i.e. far less pollution then traditional fossil fuel sources...).
Click to expand...

Don't forget that fissile materials are not a renewable resource either, so widespread use of nuclear power would just lead to a similar dilemma people are talking about now ("peak oil").
 
K

KilledByBill

Member
Don't forget that fissile materials are not a renewable resource either, so widespread use of nuclear power would just lead to a similar dilemma people are talking about now ("peak oil").
Click to expand...

Correct! Where do so many people get the idea that Earth is one big ball of Uranium?

Besides if we're going to start building all of these new nuclear reactors in the U.S. whose back yard are you going to put them in? Keeping in mind that by law insurance companies are not held liable in the event of a nuclear accident. And whose back yard are you going to bury the nuclear waste in?

You don't have to be a member of Green Peace to comprehend the problems of Nuclear Fission plants.
 
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