An important milestone for fusion

Re: An important milestone for fusion

While igniters that can satisfy the Lawson Criterion certainly might be interesting for the weapons industry, I believe that practical energy production needs some kind of breakthrough that involves once-per-cycle ignition and at the same time is achievable at a reasonable effort/energy ratio. (effort=everything you put in including the money, the bulk, the risk etc.)

Having once-per-cycle ignition, similar to having a neutron "gun" firing into a "cold" concentration of fissionable material, or in terms of fusion something as simple and controllable as hydrogen plasma guns firing protons into a magic structure of some sort, thus having a process that will stop when you turn off the ignition is probably a must.
A fusion reactor that will melt the whole county when you blow the fuse for the force field containing the micro-"sun", is probably not a good idea if for no other reason than the outcry and protests that surely would follow the first major mishap.
 
Re: An important milestone for fusion

John Norris said:
Phil, I understand that both the LL and Sandia missions are primarily concerned with the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but why is the development of an alternative bomb ignition trigger device given such a high priority with the dedicated research funds? Are there significant failure drawbacks to the existing fission trigger devices?
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I can't speak to the pursuit of new bomb designs, I have no idea if the US is pursuing new weapons. To the best of my knowledge the last nuclear weapons designs of the US were in the 80s.

What I do know, though, is that many components inside of a modern weapon are made of highly purified metallic materials, lithium hydride, and various explosives. All classes of materials are vulnerable to corrosion. Understanding how these weapons will, or will not, function as corrosion degrades them would be my personal suspicion for the type of testing these facilities want to undertake.

Plutonium also has a low temperature phase transition that evidently is rather pesky.
 
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Re: An important milestone for fusion

Phil Graham said:
I can't speak to the pursuit of new bomb designs, I have no idea if the US is pursuing new weapons. To the best of my knowledge the last nuclear weapons designs of the US were in the 80s.

What I do know, though, is that many components inside of a modern weapon are made of highly purified metallic materials, lithium hydride, and various explosives. All classes of materials are vulnerable to corrosion. Understanding how these weapons will, or will not, function as corrosion degrades them would be my personal suspicion for the type of testing these facilities want to undertake.

Plutonium also has a low temperature phase transition that evidently is rather pesky.
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Gotcha, thanks.
 
Re: An important milestone for fusion

Per Søvik said:
While igniters that can satisfy the Lawson Criterion certainly might be interesting for the weapons industry, I believe that practical energy production needs some kind of breakthrough that involves once-per-cycle ignition and at the same time is achievable at a reasonable effort/energy ratio. (effort=everything you put in including the money, the bulk, the risk etc.)

Having once-per-cycle ignition, similar to having a neutron "gun" firing into a "cold" concentration of fissionable material, or in terms of fusion something as simple and controllable as hydrogen plasma guns firing protons into a magic structure of some sort, thus having a process that will stop when you turn off the ignition is probably a must.
A fusion reactor that will melt the whole county when you blow the fuse for the force field containing the micro-"sun", is probably not a good idea if for no other reason than the outcry and protests that surely would follow the first major mishap.
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yes self extinguishing processes do seem desirable.

Not to change the subject but what does renewable energy have against birds? Not only do the windmill rotors tend to win in those collisions, but now I read that the huge desert solar energy project that focusses mirrors on a 1000' steam boiler has led to a notable increase of dead birds in the area with singed plumage, during the experimental preliminary runs.

JR
 
Re: An important milestone for fusion

John Roberts said:
Not to change the subject but what does renewable energy have against birds? Not only do the windmill rotors tend to win in those collisions, but now I read that the huge desert solar energy project that focusses mirrors on a 1000' steam boiler has led to a notable increase of dead birds in the area with singed plumage, during the experimental preliminary runs.
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I guess that renewable energy is just taking over from fossil energy in that respect, budgerigars in the coal mines, sea birds caught in oil spills, the tradition is already well established. Even before coal, we were chopping down the trees the birds nested in for firewood. The feathered ones have always drawn the short straw in our quest for energy.
 
Re: An important milestone for fusion

Per Søvik said:
I guess that renewable energy is just taking over from fossil energy in that respect, budgerigars in the coal mines, sea birds caught in oil spills, the tradition is already well established. Even before coal, we were chopping down the trees the birds nested in for firewood. The feathered ones have always drawn the short straw in our quest for energy.
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I guess it is the nature of human behavior to subordinate the needs of lesser flora and fauna. I doubt the cave men worried how the animals felt about being eaten.

JR
 
Re: An important milestone for fusion

John Roberts said:
I doubt the cave men worried how the animals felt about being eaten.
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....and neither do we apparently. I was trying to imagine the size of the flock of turkey that gets eaten at thanksgiving, it would have been quite a sight.

In Norway we kill the predators because the attack our sheep that we are too lazy to look after, then we kill other wildlife to compensate for the lack of predators.
We also kill seals because they eat "our" fish etc.

And then we have the really bizarre one, a bird that is so fat that it can be used as a candle, and apparently was sometimes in the old days. I don't know if the stories about the puffin are true, but that might be one bird that is saved by electricity becoming a generally available commodity. 8)~8-)~:cool:
 
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Re: An important milestone for fusion

Per Søvik said:
While igniters that can satisfy the Lawson Criterion certainly might be interesting for the weapons industry, I believe that practical energy production needs some kind of breakthrough that involves once-per-cycle ignition and at the same time is achievable at a reasonable effort/energy ratio. (effort=everything you put in including the money, the bulk, the risk etc.)
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Per, I'd agree that self-sustaining plasma heating doesn't necessarily need to be the ultimate goal. Some consistent net increase of energy on every "shot" so that you can manage the reactor heat/neutron/etc. fluxes seems prudent.

A fusion reactor that will melt the whole county when you blow the fuse for the force field containing the micro-"sun", is probably not a good idea if for no other reason than the outcry and protests that surely would follow the first major mishap.
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The chances a fusion system like this are virtually zero, in my admittedly non-expert estimation. Getting the process running is so difficult, the chances of self-sustaining and/or runaway processes seems extremely remote.
 
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