Nuclear fusion on brink of being realised, say MIT scientists

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/09/nuclear-fusion-on-brink-of-being-realised-say-mit-scientists

Nuclear fusion on brink of being realised, say MIT scientists

Hannah Devlin Science correspondent

Fri 9 Mar 2018 05.01 GMT

The dream of nuclear fusion is on the brink of being realised, according to a major new US initiative that says it will put fusion power on the grid within 15 years. The project, a collaboration between scientists at MIT and a private company, will take a radically different approach to other efforts to transform fusion from an expensive science experiment into a viable commercial energy source. The team intend to use a new class of high-temperature superconductors they predict will allow them to create the world’s first fusion reactor that produces more energy than needs to be put in to get the fusion reaction going.

Bob Mumgaard, CEO of the private company Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which has attracted $50 million in support of this effort from the Italian energy company Eni, said: “The aspiration is to have a working power plant in time to combat climate change. We think we have the science, speed and scale to put carbon-free fusion power on the grid in 15 years.”

The promise of fusion is huge: it represents a zero-carbon, combustion-free source of energy. The problem is that until now every fusion experiment has operated on an energy deficit, making it useless as a form of electricity generation. Decades of disappointment in the field has led to the joke that fusion is the energy of the future – and always will be.

The just-over-the-horizon timeframe normally cited is 30 years, but the MIT team believe they can halve this by using new superconducting materials to produce ultra-powerful magnets, one of the main components of a fusion reactor.
(snip)

[DetlefK]

1. I call bullshit. The problem is not that the magnets confining the plasma are too weak.

There are two known kinds of fusion-reactors: Tokamaks and Stellarators.
Tokamaks are easy to build but unstable during operation.
Stellarators are hard to build but stable during operation.

There are three big problems:

1. You have to control how the plasma flows inside the reactor. For that you need a magnetic field of very, very specific geometry. That's why the german Wendelstein X7 reactor has such a weird shape.

2. The fusion-process creates stuff like Helium and Lithium as exhaust. And they disturb the fusion-process and have to be removed somehow.

3. The fusion-process creates MASSIVE neutron-radiation that eventually destroys ANY shielding over the years.





If these guys use a third, completely new design, that is major news. However 15 years is ridiculously unrealistic if you want to build a brandnew kind of fusion-reactor from scratch.

[Pholus]

2. Back in 80's physics classes the joke was fusion has always been 30 years away.

Saying 15 years now? Just summarizes how much more we know about what we don't know.

[ExciteBike66]

5. Hey, the fantasy time-frame was cut in half, isn't that progress in itself? nt

[GreydeeThos]

3. Lockheed Martin will be starting up their fusion reactors as soon as last year

https://www.democraticunderground.com/112736443

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10022415935

[Kablooie]

4. The Republicans will Fight this if it becomes real.

Too much of their campaign money comes from current energy providers.

[dchill]

6. Damn. We almost made it.

[Voltaire2]

7. Its been on the brink for the last 40 years.

We are much more likely to achieve Medicare for All than functional nuclear fusion.

[cstanleytech]

8. Much like the flying car I will believe it when I see it.

[Kilgore]

9. I want my jet pack!!

It's been "coming soon" since I was a kid in the 60's

[Duppers]

10. If accurate, this is the best news!

Climate change was the first thing I thought about.