BREAKING .....Dr. Bussard past Assis. Direct EAC, on fusion reactor

[FogerRox]

Should Google Go Nuclear? Clean, cheap, nuclear power (no, really)


Google Tech Talks November 9, 2006

ABSTRACT This is not your father's fusion reactor! Forget everything you know about conventional ... all » thinking on nuclear fusion: high-temperature plasmas, steam turbines, neutron radiation and even nuclear waste are a thing of the past. Goodbye thermonuclear fusion; hello inertial electrostatic confinement fusion (IEC), an old idea that's been made new. While the international community debates the fate of the politically-turmoiled $12 billion ITER (an experimental thermonuclear reactor), simple IEC reactors are being built as high-school science fair projects.

Dr. Robert Bussard, former Asst. Director of the Atomic Energy Commission and founder of Energy Matter Conversion Corporation (EMC2), has spent 17 years perfecting IEC, a fusion process that converts hydrogen and boron directly into electricity producing helium as the only waste product. Most of this work was funded by the Department of Defense, the details of which have been under seal... until now.

Dr. Bussard will discuss his recent results and details of this potentially world-altering technology, whose conception dates back as far as 1924, and even includes a reactor design by Philo T. Farnsworth (inventor of the scanning television).

Can a 100 MW fusion reactor be built for less than Google's annual electricity bill? Come see what's possible when you think outside the thermonuclear box and ignore the herd....


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1996321846673788606

Prior efforts have been the Tokomak reactors, Tokomaks are donut shaped. The SUN is a sphere, this reactor is a sphere too.

[originalpckelly]

1. I know...

I posted this. This man lost his funding because of cuts for Iraq.

[FogerRox]

2. I saw it at KOS

This is brilliant

TOKOMAKS are donuts

Does the SUN look like a donut to you?

EXACTLY.

Thats why Tokomaks haven't worked properly. They aren't spheres, LIKE THE SUN.

[originalpckelly]

3. I found it on slashdot...

and it pissed me off.

It may not be as promising as he says it is, but it does seem worth a shot since the technology is far cheaper to experiment with than the TOKAMAKS.

In fact you may remember a young lad who built a fusion reactor in his basement, that is a similar type of reactor.

The problem with the kid's reactor has basically been solved by Dr. Bussard.

[originalpckelly]

4. I must say, I am glad people are picking this up...

it could save this project.

[FogerRox]

5. Its so simple its stupid

TOKOMAKS are donuts, The sun is a sphere, so why would the TOKOMAK even work? SO... DR. Bussard made a sphere.

[depakid]

12. That belies such a fundamental misunderstanding

of science and technology that I wouldn't even know where to begin.

Reminds me a little of the "doctrine of signatures" in medicine.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

13. Thanks for the condescension - adds to the discussion

This attitude is why I don't bother with the Energy/Environment forums any more.

[hunter]

22. I wonder what sort of Personality Disorder compels me to go there?

I love the snarkiness and condescension. Otherwise it would all be gallows humor.

We are killing the earth because we are ignorant. Sorry if that stings, but it's true.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

41. It's a combination of willful ignorance and greed in our leaders

The ordinary citizen is deprived of information and deliberately misled on environmental issues, like most everything else coming out of MSM.

[TheWraith]

7. Tokamak reactors run on a different confinement principle than the sun.

Tokamak reactors use magnetic fields to confine the high-energy plasma of the fusion reaction. To do this, you have to have a torus shape, due to what's known as the "hairy ball theorem" (I swear I'm not joking). The bottom line is that in order to have a stable magnetic containment field, the lines of force essentially have to be able to flow in a perfect circle, which isn't possible with a sphere.

The sun, on the other hand, is confined by its own gravitational force, and by the vacuum around it.

[Junkdrawer]

Bussard is using a centrally focused magnetic field design...

because that isn't possible with a single magnetic field, he's using multiple fields arranged in a polyhedral with each vertex having an even number of faces. This leads to "point cusps" where particles can escape. So he's hoping for a "whiffle ball" effect...trapping the particles for a sufficient number of core transits before the particle escapes through one of the holes in the whiffle ball.

[BlueEyedSon]

15. Are you serious?

The sun is round because of GRAVITY

Will we use GRAVITY to start/maintain the fusion reaction? I think not.

[FogerRox]

26. I am not serious, I am Roger, ... ahight?

[FogerRox]

6. Univ of Wisconson, is right behind Bussard

http://fti.neep.wisc.edu/proj?rm=iec

[Junkdrawer]

14. Self delete - posted wrong spot...

[buddysmellgood]

37. Is the Wisconsin group taking the same approach with the IEC?

[spuddonna]

8. Wow! K&R!!

Thanks so much for the link!! I am admittedly not a physics freak, and wasn't sure about being able to follow all his points but he was such a good presenter, and such a smart man! I hope he's able to document those 12 yrs of research quickly...

I would hope that some very smart, very rich people here in the US would see the potential of continuing this research. It sounds so incredibly promising! And I think he's right - if no one here in the US will do it, China will...

[Warren DeMontague]

9. So how many countries do we have to invade to corner the boron market?

Inquiring minds are probably gonna wanna know ;-)

[Felinity]

10. K& R Let's keep this bumped. n/t

[CrownPrinceBandar]

11. Kick for sensible energy.

[StraightDope]

16. Nov. 9 isn't exactly "breaking", now is it?

That aside, everyone who understands physics and chemistry should watch this. THIS is the wave of the future. Bussard's IEC fusion device is going to change the world, mark my words.

[porkrind]

17. Also, check these guys out...

http://focusfusion.org

They use a relatively simple gadget called a "dense plasma focus", and have gotten good results.

[Gregorian]

18. It's time for the full scale model.

Since scaling is a factor of the power 7, it's full scale or bust.

With the energy situation the way it is, this is going to get a lot of attention.

After Googling a while, I haven't come up with a single bad comment on either the idea nor Bussard. And what I find interesting is that he personally has posted answers to questions on forums. And everything he proposes is within the confines of the known physics.

Here is the basic idea, collected from some sources on other forums I found. Using inertial electrostatic confinement they're precipitating palladium and deuterium out of solution (electrolysis), and as this occurs (perhaps) some limited and low temperature nuclear reactions are taking place.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Bussard

I have a reputation here for dismissing new ideas on the energy forum. In fact, almost everything that has been posted. That is because like so many others, I've become pessimistic about the prospects of fusion coming to reality. From defunding to research failures. What difference does it make if you have an electric car, but we still generate the electricity with petroleum powered plants? Now we're talking. And the guy even knows where to go and make his speech. This is so threatening to the oil tycoons. But Google has more cash than just about any other benign business group on the planet.

Well, it's time to get up and start this day. The big fusion reactor in the sky has risen.

[shadowknows69]

19. I'm ready for my free energy as soon as they want to send it

hurry up. Like to die with at least one penny in my pocket.

[mom cat]

20. The guy needs $200,000,000. We spend that much every day in Iraq.

Our priorities suck.
I have been watching the developments in fusion for over 40 years now and this is the first time that I have felt that someone was really on to something!
He should take his Idea to Bill Gates. Google is all committed to their wonderful nano solar work and I do not know if they are ready to wrap their heads around this one. I was quite dissapointed to see the audience attrition during the talk.

Better yet:
He should take it to Hugo Chaves! :bounce:

[FogerRox]

27. Well the google video was recorded at Google ..

So I hope the Dr. is in good hands.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

21. Is there any way to get this information in front of Al Gore?

Dr. Bussard needs to raise $200 million to make this happen.

He is past the point in life where he has energy to go looking for money.

Somebody like Gore has the ability to raise the capital as well as the interest in saving the planet.

I had his cell number, but I lost it...;)

[Junkdrawer]

23. Richard Branson (Virgin Airlines) pledged $3 billion for alt. energy...

Branson pledges $3B to global warming fight

CBC News

British billionaire Richard Branson said Thursday he would donate $3 billion US over 10 years to anti-global warming initiatives.

The founder of the Virgin group of companies pledged all profits from his transportation and airline businesses, which will then be invested in efforts to find renewable, sustainable energy sources in an effort to wean the world off oil and coal.

...



http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/09/21/tech-branson-060921.html

[Junkdrawer]

24. I Googled up this blog link....

http://www.virginbrand.com/newblog/?p=490#comments

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

25. Thanks - If this reactor is feasible, then we could fly planes on ethanol

Or hydrogen...

Extremely cheap energy makes all kinds of things possible.

[TheWraith]

42. Ethanol, hell, we could run transcontinental flights on water.

One of the cool things about fusion reactors is that they make so much more possible than just power. Envision a vehicle powered by a fusion drive, which basically uses its own superheated plasma as a propellant. Such a craft wouldn't be energy limited like a modern jetliner. You could literally take off near vertically, head out past the atmosphere, whip around the planet, and land again--all in a fraction of the time that it would take going through the air.

And that's not all: Richard Branson really needs to give this guy money. Do you know what a fusion-drive spacecraft could do? Put it this way: with a chemically propelled craft, you can reach the Moon in six days, Mars in six months. With a fusion drive, you could reach the Moon in six HOURS, and Mars in six WEEKS. Not to mention reducing the cost to lift from Earth from thousands of dollars a pound to nearly nothing. You think a hundred grand for a Virgin Galactic flight into space is expensive and not compelling? How about twenty grand for a three month round-trip cruise to the Red Planet?

[FogerRox]

28. I posted an addendum at KOS

Feel free to read & Recommend:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/28/15328/187

[HCE SuiGeneris]

29. Kicked. This can be done with a gov't that speaks for the people! n/t

[Bake]

30. So what happens with a large amount of helium emissions?

Is there a bad/unforeseen side effect of that? I admit that I don't know, that's why I'm asking the question.

Bake

[FogerRox]

31. Excellent point ... IIRC

The Helium is recycled or burned. In fact they are saying they could "Burn" the current stockpile of Nuke waste.

[goforit]

32. Doesn't helium cause us to laugh hysterically?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

33. I don't know.

Is this thread made of helium? Because it's making me laugh hysterically.

[Bake]

34. No, it's the sound of your voice that makes OTHERS laugh hysterically

After you've inhaled some helium, that is. It is funny, now, I don't care who you are ...

Actually, my original question was serious, and I appreciate FogerRox's answer.

Bake

[FogerRox]

35. Bake, I took it as serious, it seemed like you checked out

IEC fusion enough to know that Helium is the waste product. Though I think its in the video that the Dr. describes its recycling.

[FogerRox]

36. After Dinner kick

[Gregorian]

38. If you want to read every little detail on this device, here's the patent.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4826646.PN.&OS=PN/4826646&RS=PN/4826646


I found this (which may represent any one of Bussard's ideas.) while searching for an answer to the question that lurks with me. That is, how does this reactor actually make electrical current to output to the world. He mentions in his google talk that it can be used in the typical steam turbine generator plant. That would be heat exchange. In this patent I do see where there is a direct electrical connection. But after thirty five pages of searching, I kind of got fuzzy.

Alright. Good night world! It's off to bed I go. Or as my dad used to say Shadrack and to bed you go! Sorry, that's hideous biblical humor.

[FogerRox]

39. I found 2 of his patents. Years apart too.

[originalpckelly]

40. kick for today...

:kick: