More on fusion power stations...

Discussion in 'Science' started by Brett Nortje, Mar 4, 2018.

  1. Brett Nortje

    Brett Nortje Well-Known Member

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    Nuclear power is very dirty and leaves a trail of pollution behind it once spent. If we were to be honest, what is a nuclear power plant more than conducting heat from one area to another?

    On one hand, there is a complicated process to creating nuclear power plants. But, if we were to observe the radioactive parts of stars and black holes forming and reforming - the cycle - then we could easily use the power plants as if they were normally used, then, with the spent rods, we could use one of those radiation detectors to absorb the radiation and make more power, while 'cleaning up' the area. This is because we could channel the heat of the radiation, the focal point of the whole power generation through radiation, to a battery where it could be stored and reused.
     
  2. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

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    Physicists have been working on fusion power for over 50 years.
     
  3. wgabrie

    wgabrie Well-Known Member Donor

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    The military already has fusion power, but they've kept it a secret from the public. But it slipped out in a news article a few years ago. (I can't be bothered to look it up.)

    And you can't use EM fields to contain a fusion reaction, like we try, you need to use a laser to cool the reaction. That's what the E.T.s told me. :alientwo:
     
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2018
  4. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

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    No they didn't.

    It would have been headlines news in physics for years.
     
  5. wgabrie

    wgabrie Well-Known Member Donor

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    I can't find it now, but a news article slipped out that a navy ship or sub was powered by two nuclear fusion power reactors.

    That one must have been covered up because I can't find it today.
     
  6. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Sounds like a typo, or an ignorant reporter that didnt know the difference b/n fission and fusion.

    I wouldn't be surprised if the elite had fusion reactors and suppressed the tech to keep more control over folks (energy is the second most valuable resource, humans being the first), but I doubt its installed in any official military equipment. More likely buried in a DARPA bunker somewhere.
     
  7. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

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    We have only recently broken even [get as much energy out as we're putting in] using this. We are a long way from practical fusion power.

    That said, breaking even is huge! They have been promising that is ten years away for 60 years.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2018
  8. Robert

    Robert Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Keep in mind that it seems only government has an interest in Fusion. Seems industry is not persuaded it will happen.

    Why do some think fusion is clean but fission is dirty?

    Fission works. Works so well it is a tenant of the Democratic party to get rid of it. What they want are squirrels in wheels creating electricity.

    I never thought of the fall out of an H bomb produces clean byproducts.
     
  9. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

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    I was noting the tuba-shaped horn sticking up out the the middle of the central core, with what appears to be large cables draped down all around.

    I am pretty sure I know what those are and why they do it that way rather than just distributing them laterally as them come up from the center.

    Any guesses?
     
  10. perdidochas

    perdidochas Well-Known Member

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  11. HereWeGoAgain

    HereWeGoAgain Banned

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    It sounds pretty exciting but it also sounds like its in purely the concept phase.
    Physics is a painfully slow beast. Time is measured in decades, not months or years. Until they can achieve practical fusion technology in a large reactor - something that produces a practical level of net power - they won't be a putting fusion reactor in the back of a pickup truck.

    Advanced technology is almost always foreseeable in the public, cutting edge of physics. The specifics are secret but the technology itself generally is not. Even for the stealth shape, there was no new physics involved. It was just a bit of clever mathematics to derive the proper shape. It was published in a mathematics book, IIRC... maybe a physics book, long before the value was recognized! It was in the public domain. I think the problem was more making a practical aircraft that had that shape, not the shape itself.

    Trivia: The SR71 was stealthy. It was designed to have a low RADAR signature.

    Szilard came up with the nuclear chain reaction in 1933 and patented the fission reactor in 1934. The notion of a nuclear bomb was at this point a recognized possibility. It was more an engineering problem than a physics problem.

    At this time, I don't think the physics of a practical fusion reactor is known. It isn't just an engineering problem. That means it could be a painfully slow process.
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2018
  12. DoctorWho

    DoctorWho Well-Known Member

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    Cold Fusion is elusive.

    As grabbing a Tiger by it's tail, then you will have to control one really pissed off Tiger.

    It will twist and turn and each time, you need external forces, to control kinks in the plasma feild, this has always been "THE Problem" to solve.
     

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