Magnet milestones move distant nuclear fusion dream closer
Source: AP
By FRANK JORDANS, SETH BORENSTEIN and DANIEL COLE
SAINT-PAUL-LES-DURANCE, France (AP) Teams working on two continents have marked similar milestones in their respective efforts to tap an energy source key to the fight against climate change: Theyve each produced very impressive magnets.
On Thursday, scientists at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in southern France took delivery of the first part of a massive magnet so strong its American manufacturer claims it can lift an aircraft carrier.
Almost 60 feet (nearly 20 meters) tall and 14 feet (more than four meters) in diameter when fully assembled, the magnet is a crucial component in the attempt by 35 nations to master nuclear fusion.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists and a private company announced separately this week that they, too, have hit a milestone with the successful test of the worlds strongest high temperature superconducting magnet that may allow the team to leapfrog ITER in the race to build a sun on earth.
Workers secure a central solenoid magnet for the ITER project as it departs from Berre-l'Etang in southern France, Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. The first part of a massive magnet so strong its American manufacturer claims it can lift an aircraft carrier arrived Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021 at a high-security site in southern France, where scientists hope it will help them build a 'sun on earth.' Almost 60-feet tall and 14 feet in diameter when fully assembled, the magnet is a crucial component of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, a 35-nation effort to develop an abundant and safe source of nuclear energy for future generations.(AP Photo/Daniel Cole)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/technology-sports-france-climate-environment-and-nature-029d14f22aaabe1a33030f612d8fc52a
Zorro
(15,691 posts)Mr. Evil
(2,749 posts)I don't think you have a choice.
Javaman
(62,444 posts)lifting a carrier is pretty impressive, but how far does anything metal need to be away from it?
RobertDevereaux
(1,841 posts)Mr. Evil
(2,749 posts)I hope they aren't using magnetic hard drives. ZAP!!!
ProfessorGAC
(64,427 posts)So, I'd say pretty far away. Unless they can add a reverse poll curtain or something.
I'd stay away because a field that strong would attract the iron in one's blood!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Any field that escapes is wasted and reduces its usefulness to support the fusion process.
There will be some leakage, but nothing like a big ol' bar magnet or horseshoe magnet.
kentuck
(110,950 posts)Would it magnetize everything around it?
That's some scary stuff!
quaint
(2,514 posts)Um...
WheelWalker
(8,943 posts)Miguelito Loveless
(4,438 posts)We have perfectly good fusion reactor a mere 8 light minutes away which delivers photons to my solar array every day. Yesterday it produced 46kWh of energy, for my home and cars, but that was a cloudy day with some rain.
Even if we solved the myriad of technical problems that have made fusion just ten years away for the last 60 years, we then have to make it economical.
Solar and wind power are economical NOW. We can build solar and wind farms NOW. They can be put in operation in a few years, or less, with few of the problems of any other power source.
If the resources spent on ITER, et al, were placed into streamlining the installation process for solar and wind, we'd solve our energy needs half a century before the first fusion reactor has any chance of being economical.
Meanwhile, we have solar cells with 25%+ efficiency (and improving) and we have 6GW land-based wind turbines a 12GW sea-based turbines. They exist NOW. Today. Per watt prices have fallen 70%-80% in the last decade and will continue to decline into the next decade. We have solutions to the energy problem, just not the political will to implement them.
ancianita
(35,816 posts)Maybe slow is the answer. Wouldn't want to blow the planet up, right?
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Renewables are becoming cheaper than burning fossil fuels or uranium. Fusion will always be just around the corner.
Last big problem is storage, to even out the irregularity of wind/solar/tides etc. Big strides are in progress there too: thermal storage, cheaper batteries, compressed air, etc.
reACTIONary
(5,749 posts)Woodwizard
(834 posts)I have a 9KW I do sometimes 60 on sunny days mid spring early summer, cloudy days nowhere near that output. Winter full sun around 18KW in late December I have a low pitch roof on the shop
Miguelito Loveless
(4,438 posts)Ive cracked 100kWh on nice Spring/Summer days. Averages high 40s in Winter.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)reACTIONary
(5,749 posts)PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)reACTIONary
(5,749 posts)Enter stage left
(3,389 posts)Steelrolled
(2,022 posts)and it is substantially carbon free.
I think that someday we will realize that rising CO2 levels in our atmosphere is a problem and a large scale nuclear fission program will be a big part of the solution. Not sure if it will be in my lifetime - I think we are still going to have to talk about it another decade or so.