A small, modular, efficient fusion plant

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/small-modular-efficient-fusion-plant-0810

[font face=Serif]A cutaway view of the proposed ARC reactor. Thanks to powerful new magnet technology, the much smaller, less-expensive ARC reactor would deliver the same power output as a much larger reactor.

Illustration courtesy of the MIT ARC team

[font size=5]A small, modular, efficient fusion plant[/font]
[font size=4]New design could finally help to bring the long-sought power source closer to reality.[/font]

David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
August 10, 2015

[font size=3]It’s an old joke that many fusion scientists have grown tired of hearing: Practical nuclear fusion power plants are just 30 years away — and always will be.

…

[font size=4]Tenfold boost in power[/font]

While the new superconductors do not produce quite a doubling of the field strength, they are strong enough to increase fusion power by about a factor of 10 compared to standard superconducting technology, Sorbom says. This dramatic improvement leads to a cascade of potential improvements in reactor design.

The world’s most powerful planned fusion reactor, a huge device called ITER that is under construction in France, is expected to cost around $40 billion. Sorbom and the MIT team estimate that the new design, about half the diameter of ITER (which was designed before the new superconductors became available), would produce about the same power at a fraction of the cost and in a shorter construction time.

But despite the difference in size and magnetic field strength, the proposed reactor, called ARC, is based on “exactly the same physics” as ITER, Whyte says. “We’re not extrapolating to some brand-new regime,” he adds.

…[/font][/font]

[HappyPlace]

1. I always wonder what the unintended consequences would be if we had "free" power...

If we had unlimited electrical energy what would we do with that?

I can't help but think that we'd just destroy our planet that much more quickly.

It seems to be scarcity of a resource that brings us wisdom.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. You’re not alone in that thought

This much we know: Despite scarcity, and environmental/suicidal devestation, we are using fossil fuels just as fast as we can. I can’t help feeling that a cleaner source of power would be a good thing.™

Today, we are cutting down forests to produce “biofuels.” What if we had enough cheap, clean power that there was no economic incentive to do that?

[OnlinePoker]

3. ARC reactor...where's Tony Stark? n/t