The race for nuclear fusion

[izentrop]

Plasma OK, but how long? They do not say the English.
70 seconds by the Koreans is already a step.
No indication on the CEA West record ??

The tokamaks in connection with the ITER project https://www.iter.org/fr/sci/tkmkresearch
There are job offers.

[ENERC]

Do tokamaks have an industrial future? Their power density is low, they require gigantic magnets and a vacuum pushed on large volumes.

If ITER should one day operate industrially, it would have to be built for about 1,5 billion (EPR target 5 mds for 1.6 GW - 500 MW for ITER).
To compare to the prototype Cadarache 18 bds ... And when we look at the size of the site, the EPR is very small .... So 1,5 bds, I do not believe.

Recall of the techno:

In the ITER tokamak, 10 000 tons of superconducting systems (whose total magnetic energy is 51 Gigajoules) will generate the magnetic field that will create, confiner and model the plasma. Manufactured in niobium-tin (Nb3Sn) or niobium-titanium (Nb-Ti), electromagnets become superconducting when cooled to less than 270 ° C (4K).

Who believes in 40 € of MWh ??

On the other hand in space, the void is free , low temperatures also . But 10 000 tons of magnet take off?
It's just useful for research.

[sen-no-sen]

How much did computing cost?
Moreover iter is only one project among a multitude of other ....

[izentrop]

We are not there yet and the fission has not said its last word

According to the IEA, the majority of reactors under construction belong to the third generation of nuclear power, EPRs and their variants (called Advanced Power Reactors (APR)). These have enhanced security systems and operate with better performance and a lifetime of 60 years. After delays in construction and significant cost overruns, the first APRs began producing their kWh: the 1400 APR reactor in South Korea in 2016, a reactor at the Novovoronezh plant in Russia with a power of 1200 MWh since February 2017, the Finnish power plant of Olkiluoto (1700 MW) to begin its tests in June, the reactor Taishan 1 (1700 MW) in China having started its own in 2016, both built by Areva.

Then the fourth generation that should be even safer, if it keeps its promises

In these reactors the fuel, thorium or uranium, is dissolved in molten lithium or beryllium fluorides. This liquid serves both as a support for fission and for the evacuation of heat. In addition to its safety, which is supposed to be superior to current reactors, it would have the advantage of using thorium, which has three times the reserves of uranium, and produce much less long-lived waste; its fuel would be difficult to use to make an atomic bomb, it would be "non-proliferating". India, well endowed with thorium, is experimenting with a 30 MW reactor, as well as China. In the USA, the ThorCon consortium designed a modular reactor operating with liquid thorium fluoride mixed with a graphite-moderated coolant (fluoride), with each 250 MW module housed in a concrete underground cavity. If the safety and economic competitiveness of low-power reactors were assured, a scenario could be envisaged where a country would acquire 100 300 MW reactors, which are less costly, to support the production of intermittent chains (wind and solar ), it would be a new nuclear deal. http://www.lemondedelenergie.com/laveni ... 017/07/19/

Have they put the cart before the boars by investing so much in the merger?

[sen-no-sen]

According to the company Tokamak energy (United Kingdom) the mastery of the merger will be made for 2030 ...
It is clear that most of the recent players in the field of fusion promise it for tomorrow ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMjrOWmbIVk

[sen-no-sen]

Google has developed an algorithm to accelerate research on nuclear fusion, a revolutionary energy

Google has partnered with Tri Alpha Energy and has put at the service of research an algorithm capable of solving complex calculations to accelerate advances in nuclear fusion, a promising source of energy for the future.

"This is yet another situation where humans and computers do a better job together than separately," says Ted Baltz, of the Google Accelerated Science Team, in a blog post about the partnership between Google and Tri Alpha Energy. .

This US company, supported by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, specializes in nuclear fusion research. For her, Google has developed Optometrist, an algorithm capable of performing complex calculations in no time. The program combines this computer power with human discernment, offering scientists to choose the most promising hypothesis between two propositions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezluaNMzHjE

http://mashable.france24.com/tech-business/20170726-google-algorithme-fusion-nucleaire-ordinateur

[sen-no-sen]

Lockheed Martin patents part of its mini-fusion reactor (and gets closer to the nuclear Grail)
Lockheed Martin has patented the design of a portion of its mini-nuclear fusion reactor. Proof that the project of the American giant, which arouses as much fascination as skepticism, advance.
The announcement provoked general skepticism in 2014: US defense and security champion Lockheed Martin said he was working to create a compact fusion reactor, a potentially revolutionary technology. He said a prototype would be developed within five years. We are almost there, and for the moment, the American conglomerate is keeping its promise.

He has just patented the design of the containment system of his mini-reactor, as spotted by the site The Drive. This is proof that the project is moving forward, but it is not a guarantee of success. The nuclear fusion reactor development projects have been numerous since the 1920 years, but all have proved ineffective and not sufficiently miniaturized.

Lockheed Martin evoked in 2014 a container-size reactor, transportable on a single truck ... or on a shuttle en route to Mars, since it is one of the potential outlets for technology. The unit developed by the American would have the potential to power a city of 80 000 inhabitants.

Fusion, the "holy grail" of nuclear power

As recalled by L'Usine Nouvelle in 2014, fusion is the grail of energy production. From deuterium and tritium, this technology can produce energy in almost unlimited quantities at very low cost and almost without waste. In France, an experimental reactor of 500 MW is under construction at Cadarache. The 15 Billion Dollar Project brings together the efforts of the European Union, India, Japan, China, Russia, South Korea, the United States and Switzerland. Iter must produce his first 2025 plasma.

https://www.usinenouvelle.com/editorial/lockheed-martin-fait-breveter-une-partie-de-son-mini-reacteur-a-fusion-et-se-rapproche-du-graal-nucleaire.N672249

[izentrop]

The molten salt fission will be operational before (translation gougueule)

The delays and risks associated with nuclear fusion mean that the best hope for better nuclear energy is the nuclear fission of molten salt.

Terrestrial Energy is developing a small modular 190 megawatt salt reactor that will cost less than $ 1 billion to build. This will result in kilowatt-hour costs of less than 5 cents, a competitive price compared to electricity produced from natural gas.

Terrestrial Energy Canada has signed a technical services contract with the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) in Karlsruhe, Germany. The JRC will conduct confirmatory fuel mixture and primary coolant salt studies for Terrestrial's integrated molten salt reactor (IMSR).

Molten salt would have significantly reduced nuclear waste and advanced designs could eventually dispose of nuclear waste by shutting down the fuel cycle and using all of the uranium and plutonium.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/04/nuclear-fusion-update.html

[sen-no-sen]

The molten salt fission will be operational before (translation gougueule)

Yes it is a certain thing.
The liquid fission could be developed in a very short time, the dams are not technical but politico-financial.
The thermonuclear fusion will require a lot of research before being operational ... and that's good!

[Christophe]

Some run visibly faster than others ...