Posted on Dec 4, 2023
Companies say they're closing in on nuclear fusion as an energy source. Will it work?
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https://www.npr.org/2023/12/04/ [login to see] /companies-say-theyre-closing-in-on-nuclear-fusion-as-an-energy-source-will-it-wo
In a gleaming warehouse complex north of Seattle, David Kirtley is building what he hopes will be the future of power generation.
Standing in front of a set of aluminum coils that look like an advanced engine for some yet-to-be-built starship, Kirtley makes the case for his project that he's made to venture capital firms and wealthy private investors:
Fusion power could change the world. If it worked, it would grant humanity eye-watering quantities of electricity without producing any greenhouse gas emissions. The warming of the planet would slow, environmental pollution would drop, and energy would be cheaper than ever.
"We can generate electricity, theoretically, at much lower costs than we currently generate it now," he says. "And do it without fossil fuels."
In a gleaming warehouse complex north of Seattle, David Kirtley is building what he hopes will be the future of power generation.
Standing in front of a set of aluminum coils that look like an advanced engine for some yet-to-be-built starship, Kirtley makes the case for his project that he's made to venture capital firms and wealthy private investors:
Fusion power could change the world. If it worked, it would grant humanity eye-watering quantities of electricity without producing any greenhouse gas emissions. The warming of the planet would slow, environmental pollution would drop, and energy would be cheaper than ever.
"We can generate electricity, theoretically, at much lower costs than we currently generate it now," he says. "And do it without fossil fuels."
Companies say they're closing in on nuclear fusion as an energy source. Will it work?
Posted from npr.org
Seattle
Energy
Science
Nuclear
Posted 5 mo ago
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Sounds good, sort of, theoretically only. I remain dubious. There is no convincing explanation about why both ways of containment are considered safe. Are they failsafe and foolproof?
The fact is that the amount of energy input is barely under the amount of energy output, once only as far as we know. That is a problem. Is the miniscule excess of energy enough to power the process? And regardless of how they the process is described, it is a contained thermonuclear process (correct me if I'm wrong). Who needs a miniature sun nearby when the grid dysfunctions and the containment stops working?
As they say "Fusion is the energy of the future — and it always will be."
The fact is that the amount of energy input is barely under the amount of energy output, once only as far as we know. That is a problem. Is the miniscule excess of energy enough to power the process? And regardless of how they the process is described, it is a contained thermonuclear process (correct me if I'm wrong). Who needs a miniature sun nearby when the grid dysfunctions and the containment stops working?
As they say "Fusion is the energy of the future — and it always will be."
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."A sticky business
Nuclear power plants today use a process called fission, which harvests the energy released by breaking heavy atoms apart. Nuclear fusion does the opposite: It generates energy by sticking lightweight atoms together. When the atoms stick, they create new elements and particles that weigh less than the total mass of the originals. That missing mass is converted to energy, via Einstein's famous equation E=mc2. It's that conversion from mass to energy that makes fusion among the most powerful processes in the universe.
It's also tricky. The cores of atoms, known as nuclei, are positively charged. Like the north ends of two magnets, these positive charges repel one another as they get close — and the closer they get, the more the tiny atoms swerve and bounce trying to avoid each other. It's only in the hottest and densest environments in the universe that the atoms can overcome this powerful repulsion and actually stick. The most common place this happens is in stars, including our sun.
The sun is a massive fusion reactor that supports all life on Earth.
"Basically, the sun weighs so much that it's able to squeeze these atoms together and fuse them," says Carolyn Kuranz, an associate professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Michigan. The sun works primarily by fusing hydrogen into helium, but other stars fuse heavier elements, including carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and lithium — and even iron. "Actually, that's how the iron in our blood was generated," Kuranz says — by other stars that, upon their deaths, sent these heavier elements out into the universe.
Back here on Earth, without the aid of a crushing gravitational field, fusion becomes a much trickier task. The fusing atoms must be heated to high temperatures and held close enough together that they can overcome their repulsion. In the process, they cannot interact with their container or touch anything around them — otherwise they'll cause it to melt."...
..."A sticky business
Nuclear power plants today use a process called fission, which harvests the energy released by breaking heavy atoms apart. Nuclear fusion does the opposite: It generates energy by sticking lightweight atoms together. When the atoms stick, they create new elements and particles that weigh less than the total mass of the originals. That missing mass is converted to energy, via Einstein's famous equation E=mc2. It's that conversion from mass to energy that makes fusion among the most powerful processes in the universe.
It's also tricky. The cores of atoms, known as nuclei, are positively charged. Like the north ends of two magnets, these positive charges repel one another as they get close — and the closer they get, the more the tiny atoms swerve and bounce trying to avoid each other. It's only in the hottest and densest environments in the universe that the atoms can overcome this powerful repulsion and actually stick. The most common place this happens is in stars, including our sun.
The sun is a massive fusion reactor that supports all life on Earth.
"Basically, the sun weighs so much that it's able to squeeze these atoms together and fuse them," says Carolyn Kuranz, an associate professor of nuclear engineering at the University of Michigan. The sun works primarily by fusing hydrogen into helium, but other stars fuse heavier elements, including carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and lithium — and even iron. "Actually, that's how the iron in our blood was generated," Kuranz says — by other stars that, upon their deaths, sent these heavier elements out into the universe.
Back here on Earth, without the aid of a crushing gravitational field, fusion becomes a much trickier task. The fusing atoms must be heated to high temperatures and held close enough together that they can overcome their repulsion. In the process, they cannot interact with their container or touch anything around them — otherwise they'll cause it to melt."...
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