RE: Experimental Energy - Fusion

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Thank you for your response and support, @ervin-lemark.

Do you think that the ITER approach to fusion is more viable?
Absolutely, yes.

ITER's approach via magnetic confinement is definitely the most viable approach to fusion at this time. Magnetic confinement has been the most successful attempt at fusion our society attempted.

The predecessor to ITER, the Joint European Torus, I believe, was the most efficient attempt at fusion. In 1997, it produced 16-MW of fusion power while consuming 24-MW of power needed to ignite the fuel.

Do we need constant science and engineering work to succeed in the foreseeable future?
Constant science and engineering work are vital to the success of fusion. Breakthroughs in new technologies will help our society discover the most practical means of using this power production for daily use.



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Thank you very much for your feedback.

I see that my second question wasn't precise enough. Let me try again.

Is the success of commercial-grade fusion power plants achievable without a significant breakthrough? If yes, what are the timeframe forecasts?

Thanks again.

!invest_vote

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(Edited)

I think it’s achievable through magnetic confinement without a significant breakthrough. I feel @toofasteddie has the right of it. I feel Fusion tech through magnetic confinement is at a point where they are tweaking things to achieve desired results.

I would give the ITER their ten year projection for a sustainable plasma reaction needed for efficient fusion production

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That's great to hear. How long from ITER to the first commercial power plant? I am asking to see whether I will live to see it in action :)

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I don’t think you or I will be around to see it given historical timelines between theory and applications.

Hans Beth in 1930s, if I’m not mistaken first proposed that the stars used the H-H fusion. Research into fusion started as early as the 1920s.

Hans Beth received the Nobel Prize in the late 60s after the scientific community confirmed it.

The first fusion reactor that created a plasma was the Russian T-3 Tokamak in 1968 (need confirmation).

So between the 1920s and the JETs most efficient plasma and fusion run in 1983 we’re looking at roughly 63 years. When ITER succeeds at maintaining a continuous plasma in 10 years it would put that date range to 110 years.

The rough date range does not include the challenges to heat removal, waste-, and radiation management.

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Thanks again for your very thorough answer.

That's why I was asking about the chance of a breakthrough :)

Have a great week.

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I hope you have a great week as well.

I need to learn how to fully read questions. I think I can accomplish that task but I find I don’t always reach the goal.

When you wrote about breakthroughs I only focused upon the technologies I was writing about. Breakthroughs in plasma management would significantly speed up the dev process.

There is another fusion process I deliberately didn’t discuss in this article because I wanted to handle it separately: muon-induced fusion. It can occur at room temperature and even cryogenic temperatures.

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muon-induced fusion. It can occur at room temperature and even cryogenic temperatures

This would be a breakthrough :)

Don't worry about the questions and answers game. You can't know what goes on in my head when I pose the question.

To explain it a bit. Currently, I am reading Cixin Liu's trilogy Remembrance of Earth's Past

It's an intriguing read. A mixture of hard sci-fi, sociology, philosophy, ...

One of the major points of the series is the distinction of natural progress versus a breakthrough or a leap in scientific progress.

Like in space travel propellant, for example. Classic propulsion (rocket fuel) vs nuclear power (fission) vs fusion power.

Thanks a lot for this discussion, I appreciate it very much.

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