Nuclear Fusion Milestone

**Ry_Tower** · October 8th, 2013 09:59 AM

BBC News - Nuclear fusion milestone passed at US lab

I hope within the next 5-10 years they can really harness this source of energy for the good of mankind.

**yapoy86** · October 8th, 2013 10:18 AM

baka nandyan si Dr. Otto Octavius??

**ghosthunter** · October 8th, 2013 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by Ry_Tower

BBC News - Nuclear fusion milestone passed at US lab

I hope within the next 5-10 years they can really harness this source of energy for the good of mankind.

I'd like a nuclear fusion battery for my smartphone so I would never need to recharge it.... ever!

**niky** · October 8th, 2013 12:20 PM

Nuclear Fusion car... top off with distilled water at the gas station and plug into the grid to power the lasers to pump-prime the reactor...

**safeorigin** · October 8th, 2013 03:08 PM

I'm still putting my bet with these guys: Lawrenceville Plasma Physics

aneutronic fusion using hydrogen + boron as fuel directly converts energy to electricity as opposed to using steam turbines. And it's not like we could mine the moon like crazy for tritium yet.

**ghosthunter** · October 8th, 2013 03:24 PM

Originally Posted by niky

Nuclear Fusion car... top off with distilled water at the gas station and plug into the grid to power the lasers to pump-prime the reactor...

Imagine the kind of accidents we will get when two cars with Mr. Fusion devices collide at high speed!

Bring out the sun screen with SPF 10,000!!

**Ry_Tower** · October 8th, 2013 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

Imagine the kind of accidents we will get when two cars with Mr. Fusion devices collide at high speed!

Bring out the sun screen with SPF 10,000!!

puwede naman siguro na may built-in device din na bahalang maghandle nang ganyang scenario. Just like they we're able to invent ABS, collapsing stering column etc.

BTW the report also said another multi-billion dollar project is being built in Europe, I guess they really believe in this technology and that is indeed good. Magnetic power will be used to control fusion reaction. Much safer I think than lasers.

**safeorigin** · October 8th, 2013 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

Imagine the kind of accidents we will get when two cars with Mr. Fusion devices collide at high speed!

Bring out the sun screen with SPF 10,000!!

No need really since the reaction will immediately cease. A self-sustaining fusion reaction requires constant feeding of power in order to overcome the weak nuclear force("barrier" that prevents atoms from fusing).

**safeorigin** · December 14th, 2015 03:32 PM

Another candidate for nuclear fusion reactor. This time stellerator type instead of the old Tokamak design.

Wendelstein 7-X

Wendelstein 7-X at the Greifswald branch of IPP is a large stellarator with modular superconducting coils which enable steady state plasma operation in order to explore the reactor relevance of this concept.

The main assembly of Wendelstein 7-X was concluded in 2014. Once all technical systems have been checked step by step the first plasma was produced on 10th December 2015.

When completed, Wendelstein 7-X will be the world’s largest fusion device of the stellarator type. Its objective is to investigate the suitability of this type for a power plant. It will also test an optimised magnetic field for confining the plasma, which will be produced by a system of 50 non-planar and superconducting magnet coils, this being the technical core piece of the device.

The structure composed of single coils allows the magnetic field to be shaped in detail. A great deal of theory and computation effort was invested to optimise the magnetic field for Wendelstein 7-X so as to overcome the disadvantages of previous classical stellarators. Its predecessor, Wendelstein 7-AS (1988 - 2002), the first device of this new generation of Advanced Stellarators, had already subjected elements of the concept to first experimental testing.

The further developed successor, Wendelstein 7-X, is now to investigate the new stellarator’s suitability for a power plant. It is expected that plasma equilibrium and confinement will be of a quality comparable to that of a tokamak of the same size. But it will avoid the disadvantages of a large current flowing in a tokamak plasma: With plasma discharges lasting up to 30 minutes, Wendelstein 7-X is to demonstrate the essential stellarator property, viz. continuous operation.