I think energy should be decentralized - every home should have it's own reactor.
Slippery slope my friend. With our luck, Trump will agree to share nuclear weapons technology with North Korea when he meets Kim Jong Un, in return for hair grooming secrets.
Next thing you know Suburban Americans will be using superior North Korean weapons technology to employ their reactors to construct tactical weapons.
And I have been following it ever since! As I remember it, the difference between ITER and Wendelstein can be summarised as ITER is easier to build but makes it harder to control the plasma. The design of Wendelstein is harder to build but easier to manage the plasma. It is significant that at Wendelstein they have already moved on to working on the panels that are designed to siphon off the thermal energy and any impurities (helium ash, ash is a funny thing to call it but I guess it makes sense). So from my understanding, they have a bit of a lead over ITER, or maybe what they learn can be used in ITER when they get that far. Suddenly the time horizon doesn't look so awfully far in the future. 't
i think this touches on the differences with visuals
i posted something a couple of pages (and probably a couple of years) back about this
anyone can scroll and see
it's relative and lazy is correct
the visual is like a filament
here it is
i think the countdown and excitement is around the 3:40 mark
And I have been following it ever since! As I remember it, the difference between ITER and Wendelstein can be summarised as ITER is easier to build but makes it harder to control the plasma. The design of Wendelstein is harder to build but easier to manage the plasma. It is significant that at Wendelstein they have already moved on to working on the panels that are designed to siphon off the thermal energy and any impurities (helium ash, ash is a funny thing to call it but I guess it makes sense). So from my understanding, they have a bit of a lead over ITER, or maybe what they learn can be used in ITER when they get that far. Suddenly the time horizon doesn't look so awfully far in the future. 't
After more than a year of technical preparations and tests, the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator has produced its first helium plasma.
Scientists are rejoicing after the inaugural test run of the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) fusion reactor last week. Inside the massive, uniquely-shaped stellarator, one milligram of helium gas was heated to 100 million degrees Celsius, creating a plasma which lasted for one tenth of a second. According to the team operating the reactor, “everything went according to plan,” which means we are leaps and bounds closer to harnessing nuclear fusion technology for cleaner energy.
What that says about him or me, I'll leave up to you.
Fusion energy isn't a bomb thing. There are no high pressures to make things move away from the center.
There is nothing in the universe more fragile than a plasma trying to fuse. The slightest problem—a leak, a failure of the magnetic containment, whatever—and the magic fails to happen. The energy isn't released, it fails to appear in the first place—kinda the opposite of what happens in a fission reactor.
Significant heat would be generated in the reaction (I mean that's the whole point) but that's true in a wood stove or a gas turbine or a coal boiler. It's also a big part of the problem—you have magnets that need to be a teensy bit above absolute zero around the heat source. I'd be more worried about a helium explosion from a magnet quench than anything to do with the reactor. And dealing with a helium flash isn't that hard.
What that says about him or me, I'll leave up to you.
And if it makes you feel any better with the same caveat as before I would guess like all the ammunition bunkers I used to have to work around it will have very strong walls and a flimsy roof.
I'm just thinking a 20-ft x 8000-mile core sample of our planet will affect the resale value.
I'm not a nuclear engineer and in fact haven't even read the article yet, but I strongly suspect should the plasma somehow get out of the containment field most of the energy is going to go up and out rather than down. This is hydrogen not uranium we're talking about. I don't think I'd want to live within twenty miles of it though.
