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Inside the nuclear fusion breakthrough that could be a step to unlimited clean energy in the distant future
- Thread starter krellmk
- Start date
I am not going to get too excited about this. They used 300 units of power to get 3 units of power out, not very efficient.
And the numbers required to do this were staggering:
The cost of the National Ignition Facility was $3.5 Billion. (ignition = getting more power out than you put in)
There are 192 lasers, each 300 feet long.
The lasers were fired with 1,000 times the power (15,000 GW) of the entire national electrical grid (daily average 1.5 GW) through capacitors - imagine those babies!)
The hollow target is a polished diamond sphere made from vaporized carbon, 100 times smoother than a mirror, with a 90% rejection rate, full of liquid hydrogen at -430 degrees, in a near perfect vacuum.
For usable commercial power, it would take 100 shots a second, requiring 900,000 targets per day, and 100 times more laser power than currently available.
The fusion shot lasted a billionth of a second.
I think I will hang on to my diesel generator and my 1000 gallon storage tank.
And the numbers required to do this were staggering:
The cost of the National Ignition Facility was $3.5 Billion. (ignition = getting more power out than you put in)
There are 192 lasers, each 300 feet long.
The lasers were fired with 1,000 times the power (15,000 GW) of the entire national electrical grid (daily average 1.5 GW) through capacitors - imagine those babies!)
The hollow target is a polished diamond sphere made from vaporized carbon, 100 times smoother than a mirror, with a 90% rejection rate, full of liquid hydrogen at -430 degrees, in a near perfect vacuum.
For usable commercial power, it would take 100 shots a second, requiring 900,000 targets per day, and 100 times more laser power than currently available.
The fusion shot lasted a billionth of a second.
I think I will hang on to my diesel generator and my 1000 gallon storage tank.
But I think an important point is, like the diesel generator, once ignited, it runs with far less energy (fuel) than needed to start (choke fuel).
So, getting it to work at all is one thing. Each detail will advance once the technology is studied outside the lab. And then, the price will come down.
I don’t think anyone said it would be easy to make a sun. But parking one on the far side of the moon to fire into solar panels could be useful for some things.
Except for Gateway being consumed… might have to think on that one.
So, getting it to work at all is one thing. Each detail will advance once the technology is studied outside the lab. And then, the price will come down.
I don’t think anyone said it would be easy to make a sun. But parking one on the far side of the moon to fire into solar panels could be useful for some things.
Except for Gateway being consumed… might have to think on that one.
I am a positive guy, at least most of the time. This is fascinating stuff. My Granddaughter (12) and I have studied fission and fusion, the Big Bang and now space black holes through James webb images during the past 3 years. She is very knowledgeable now . She’s experienced the smallest quark to the largest black hole. I you cannot get excited about what is happing with fusion then wake up. It’s what keeps us alive. The sun is a sizeable fusion reactor and it’s makeup is worth exploring so my advise is spend a few hours on YouTube learning about Fusion here is little info for those who may want to know a little but not familiar with nuclear fission and fusion
Inside the sun, fusion reactions take place at very high temperatures and enormous gravitational pressures
The foundation of nuclear energy is harnessing the power of atoms. Both fission and fusion are nuclear processes by which atoms are altered to create energy, but what is the difference between the two? Simply put, fission is the division of one atom into two, and fusion is the combination of two lighter atoms into a larger one. They are opposing processes, and therefore very different.
The word fission means "a splitting or breaking up into parts" (Merriam-Webster Online, www.m-w.com). Nuclear fission releases heat energy by splitting atoms. The surprising discovery that it was possible to make a nucleus divide was based on Albert Einstein’s prediction that mass could be changed into energy. In 1939, scientist began experiments, and one year later Enrico Fermi built the first nuclear reactor.
Nuclear fission takes place when a large, somewhat unstable isotope (atoms with the same number of protons but different number of neutrons) is bombarded by high-speed particles, usually neutrons. These neutrons are accelerated and then slammed into the unstable isotope, causing it to fission, or break into smaller particles. During the process, a neutron is accelerated and strikes the target nucleus, which in the majority of nuclear power reactors today is Uranium-235. This splits the target nucleus and breaks it down into two smaller isotopes (the fission products), three high-speed neutrons, and a large amount of energy.
This resulting energy is then used to heat water in nuclear reactors and ultimately produces electricity. The high-speed neutrons that are ejected become projectiles that initiate other fission reactions, or chain reactions.
The word fusion means "a merging of separate elements into a unified whole". Nuclear fusion refers to the "union of atomic nuclei to form heavier nuclei resulting in the release of enormous amounts of energy" (Merriam-Webster Online, www.m-w.com). Fusion takes place when two low-mass isotopes, typically isotopes of hydrogen, unite under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature.
Fusion is what powers the sun. Atoms of Tritium and Deuterium (isotopes of hydrogen, Hydrogen-3 and Hydrogen-2, respectively) unite under extreme pressure and temperature to produce a neutron and a helium isotope. Along with this, an enormous amount of energy is released, which is several times the amount produced from fission.
Scientists continue to work on controlling nuclear fusion in an effort to make a fusion reactor to produce electricity. Some scientists believe there are opportunities with such a power source since fusion creates less radioactive material than fission and has a nearly unlimited fuel supply. However, progress is slow due to challenges with understanding how to control the reaction in a contained space.
Both fission and fusion are nuclear reactions that produce energy, but the applications are not the same. Fission is the splitting of a heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei, and fusion is the process where two light nuclei combine together releasing vast amounts of energy. Fission is used in nuclear power reactors since it can be controlled, while fusion is not utilized to produce power since the reaction is not easily controlled and is expensive to create the needed conditions for a fusion reaction. Research continues into ways to better harness the power of fusion, but research is in experimental stages. While different, the two processes have an important role in the past, present and future of energy creation.
Inside the sun, fusion reactions take place at very high temperatures and enormous gravitational pressures
The foundation of nuclear energy is harnessing the power of atoms. Both fission and fusion are nuclear processes by which atoms are altered to create energy, but what is the difference between the two? Simply put, fission is the division of one atom into two, and fusion is the combination of two lighter atoms into a larger one. They are opposing processes, and therefore very different.
The word fission means "a splitting or breaking up into parts" (Merriam-Webster Online, www.m-w.com). Nuclear fission releases heat energy by splitting atoms. The surprising discovery that it was possible to make a nucleus divide was based on Albert Einstein’s prediction that mass could be changed into energy. In 1939, scientist began experiments, and one year later Enrico Fermi built the first nuclear reactor.
This resulting energy is then used to heat water in nuclear reactors and ultimately produces electricity. The high-speed neutrons that are ejected become projectiles that initiate other fission reactions, or chain reactions.
The word fusion means "a merging of separate elements into a unified whole". Nuclear fusion refers to the "union of atomic nuclei to form heavier nuclei resulting in the release of enormous amounts of energy" (Merriam-Webster Online, www.m-w.com). Fusion takes place when two low-mass isotopes, typically isotopes of hydrogen, unite under conditions of extreme pressure and temperature.
Fusion is what powers the sun. Atoms of Tritium and Deuterium (isotopes of hydrogen, Hydrogen-3 and Hydrogen-2, respectively) unite under extreme pressure and temperature to produce a neutron and a helium isotope. Along with this, an enormous amount of energy is released, which is several times the amount produced from fission.
Both fission and fusion are nuclear reactions that produce energy, but the applications are not the same. Fission is the splitting of a heavy, unstable nucleus into two lighter nuclei, and fusion is the process where two light nuclei combine together releasing vast amounts of energy. Fission is used in nuclear power reactors since it can be controlled, while fusion is not utilized to produce power since the reaction is not easily controlled and is expensive to create the needed conditions for a fusion reaction. Research continues into ways to better harness the power of fusion, but research is in experimental stages. While different, the two processes have an important role in the past, present and future of energy creation.
By the time scientists make commercial power available with laser fusion, we will all be long gone from this world. That's why I am not too excited about this.
If you give me $3.5B and turn me loose with some crazy amount of electrical power, I could do some impressive shit that would last a billionth of a second, just like they did.
Hell, I wore a dosimeter for six years and stood above a nuclear reactor core that was operating and looked through the leaded glass viewing port to see the green glow. This was after a course on nuclear fission. I have also handled one type of the smaller surface-launched military nuclear weapons. This was after several courses on nuclear fusion and nuclear safety. So I kinda know what I am talking about.
Glen, good fission and fusion summary.
If you give me $3.5B and turn me loose with some crazy amount of electrical power, I could do some impressive shit that would last a billionth of a second, just like they did.
Hell, I wore a dosimeter for six years and stood above a nuclear reactor core that was operating and looked through the leaded glass viewing port to see the green glow. This was after a course on nuclear fission. I have also handled one type of the smaller surface-launched military nuclear weapons. This was after several courses on nuclear fusion and nuclear safety. So I kinda know what I am talking about.
Glen, good fission and fusion summary.
