Science > Physics > What is that about a fusion power plant in Cadarache in France?
| Topic: |
Science > Physics |
| User: |
"Jan Panteltje" |
| Date: |
26 Nov 2003 06:07:58 PM |
| Object: |
What is that about a fusion power plant in Cadarache in France? |
I just read in the news that the European Commission has decided
that in Cadarache in France there will be a fusion reactor build.
Will that thing actually deliver some real power, or will it be an other
mega bucks burner with no output to even flash a flashlight?
In the last case how about putting the money in solar powered cars...
.
|
|
| User: "Uncle Al" |
|
| Title: Re: What is that about a fusion power plant in Cadarache in France? |
26 Nov 2003 07:02:06 PM |
|
|
Jan Panteltje wrote:
I just read in the news that the European Commission has decided
that in Cadarache in France there will be a fusion reactor build.
Will that thing actually deliver some real power, or will it be an other
mega bucks burner with no output to even flash a flashlight?
In the last case how about putting the money in solar powered cars...
The only stuff the thing will power is budget burning. It is
trivially shown that most of the energy released in fission is kinetic
energy (temperature) of the fission fragment nuclei. It is trivially
shown that most of the energy released in fusion is fast protons and
neutrons (multiple MeV). Stopping the protons is nasty. Stopping the
neutrons is a nightmare. Having liquid helium-cooled supercon coils
hard by MeV protons and neutrons, and photon hard radiation, plus a
plasma cooking at 100 million C (8-10 keV for electrons) is insanity.
Other than those minor objections, safe tritium handling with
containment has never been demonstrated. Both the DoD (weapons) and
civilian safety light manufacturers have godawful leakage rates. How
well do you think a powerplant will do?
A civilian internal combustion hydrogen economy is expected to have
10-20% leakage overall. That's serious money! The mind boggles.
Hydrogen is nasty - but we all know that.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!
.
|
|
|
|
|
Related Articles |
|
|
