France Gets Nuclear Fusion Plant

[Sandpiper]

France gets nuclear fusion plant

Project estimated to cost 10bn euros and will run for 35 years
It will produce the first sustained fusion reactions
Final stage before full prototype of commercial reactor is built
France will get to host the project to build a 10bn-euro (£6.6bn) nuclear fusion reactor, in the face of strong competition from Japan.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) will be the most expensive joint scientific project after the International Space Station.

The Iter programme was held up for over 18 months as parties tried to broker a deal between the two rivals.

Nuclear fusion taps energy from reactions like those that heat the Sun.

Nuclear fusion is seen as a cleaner approach to power production than nuclear fission and fossil fuels.

<snip>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4629239.stm

[lapfog_1]

1. I wish them all the success in the world

but this research effort has been "10 years away" for decades now.
Yes, there has been progress... but it costs us (the planet) billions
and has yet to produce results. I'm not sure, minus a breakthrough,
that it will ever yield commercial power plants.

[robcon]

2. I agree, but wishes are all we have

It would be remarkable and spectacular if we could tap into fusion. Here's hoping.

[Dudley_DUright]

5. The other option is inertial confinement fusion

which has also been 10 years away for decades. The national ignition facility is the latest of these efforts.

http://www.llnl.gov/nif/

[donco6]

12. I didn't even know they were THIS far along.

I say, good luck.

[Massacure]

3. A fusion reactor is the grandest game of trial and error.

The scientist pretty much started from nil with it. But the rewards from it would be astonishing if we could get it to work.

[mbperrin]

4. So why not just take the energy from the reactions ON the sun?

Solar is already feasible and here. If we'd spend 1/10 on it that we spend on various nookleeur projects, it would be the cheapest alternative. The biggest fusion reactor in the solar system is already up and running. All we have to do is collect it.

I know, then Carlyle couldn't make money building and researching more nookleeur stuff; after all, we can trust them, can't we?

[ozone_man]

6. Solar roof shingles.

And a tax break for everyone who uses them or other renewable energy.

The biggest gains in solar photovoltaic cost appear to be in making the process cheaper, but not necessarily more efficient.

I have nothing against fusion research, but we need to fully fund alternative energy research, and offer real tax incentives for users of a "soft energy path".

But the larger problem is controlling our energy demand, as the cheaper energy is, the more we use in our electrically dependent civilization.

[ecoalex]

7. Energy amplification seems

just as 'doable " as fusion. 5 more fission plants near populated areas, with a loss of safety protocols,< Challenger> disaster, human lives seem to be expendable now, a departure from "safety first" of the past.Remember 3 Mile Island, I sure do was threatened by it.No Fun.

Stop more fission reactors, and spent fuel, they have storage problems now on reactor sites. Where's the waste going to go?

[jpak]

8. 10bn euros would buy ~2000 MW worth of photovoltaic modules - today

and they would generate electricity - today - not umpteen years down the road...

[freedom_to_read]

9. research is a good investment

They will learn a lot from this; not all of it will have immediate practical applications. But scientific research is worth the (sometimes large) expense, IMHO.

[ZR2]

10. But where do you put 2000 MW worth of photovoltaic modules ?

How much of an are would that take up ?

[jpak]

13. Portugal's 116 MW PV farm will occupy ~250 hectares of a reclaimed mine

Existing large PV arrays take up ~0.5 MW per hectare

2000 MW of PV would take up ~4000 hectares

Where???

Parking lots

Agricultural fence rows

Residential and Industrial rooftops

Brownfields

etc.

and they don't have to be deployed in the same place.

Also, don't forget that central station power plants use hundreds (thousands) of hectares of land for transmission lines and substations...

[seriousstan]

11. On a cloudy day it would buy almost 100W worth.

[jpak]

14. Not so

PV panels will produce ~60% of their rated capacity on a cloudy day (they work primarily in the UV region of the solar spectrum).