A big problem with nuclear fusion is solved
A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) and the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wein) have discovered a way to control Type-I ELM plasma instabilities, that melt the walls of fusion devices.
The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters. There is no doubt that the day will come when fusion power plants can provide sustainable energy and solve our persistent energy problems.
It is the main reason why so many scientists around the world are working on this power source. Power generation in this way actually mimics the sun.
For the method to work, the plasmas must be heated to 100 million degrees Celsius inside the reactors. Overlapping magnetic fields surround the plasma that keep the walls of the reactor from melting. The shell that forms around the plasma can work only because the outermost few centimeters of the edge of that shell, called the magnetically formed plasma edge, is very well insulated.
However, there is a drawback to this method of keeping the plasma’s solar-level heat within. In that edge region, which are plasma instabilities, exist there (ELMs). ELMs typically happen during fusion reactions. In the course of an ELM, intense plasma particles may strike the reactor’s wall and cause possible damage.
The researchers returned to a technique of operation that had been previously abandoned, in a move that would remind anybody of presenting an original of anything after numerous trials of other approaches just to discover that the original is the correct one.
Instead of possibly harming the reactor’s walls, very destructive instabilities. Numerous minor instabilities are possible, but none of them pose a threat to the walls of the reactor.
Elisabeth Wolfrum, research group head at IPP in Garching, Germany, and professor at TU Wien, states that “Our discovery marks a breakthrough in understanding the occurrence and prevention of massive Type I ELMs.” The operating regime we provide is most likely the most optimistic case for fusion power plant plasmas in the future. Now, the findings have been released in the publication Physical Review Letters.
Toroidal tokamak fusion reactor is the name of the reactor. Extremely hot plasma particles travel quickly within this reactor. Strong magnetic coils make sure that the particles stay contained rather than destroying the reactor’s walls by striking them.
How a fusion reactor works is complex, and the dynamics inside are also complex. The motion of the particles depends on the plasma density, temperature and magnetic field. The reactor’s operation is determined by the selection of these parameters.
When the smaller particles of plasma strike the walls or the reactor, instead of a round shape, the reactor takes on a triangular shape with rounded corners, however this shape is far less damaged than that caused by a big ELM.
The possibility for a continuous fusion process with enormous energy is greatly increased by this. A perpetual energy source.
See more here thespaceacademy.org
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Herb Rose
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Another example of scientists seeking funding to turn lead into gold. They will continue to have “major advances: until it is realized that fusion is fiction.
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K Kaiser
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@Herb,
I wouldn’t call “fusion” a fiction but, more likely than not, it may never become a real “controllable source of energy” om Earth.
KK
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Herb Rose
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Hi KK,
Fusion is based on the assertion that mass and energy are the same. The only proof of this assertion is that Einstein says it’s so. Is it possible split an Alpha particle (helium nucleus) into 2 deuterium nuclei and use the released fission energy to convert 2 deuterium nuclei into an alpha particle by fusion and release more energy? The whole thing is based on a change in the mass of an atom from the average mass of the element but an average atom does not exist in reality. Every atom is an integer multiple of the mass of a neutron and the average is a result of different isotopes, not atoms with partial masses. The energy released must be a multiple of the mass of a neutron (what happens to the electric charges when a proton and electron are destroyed?). The sun is powered by fission.
Herb
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Jerry Krause
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Hi Herb,
You began: “Fusion is based on the assertion that mass and energy are the same.”
What Einstein’s analysis showed was that there was a mathematical relationship between matter (mass) and energy. And the experimental observation (the nuclear bomb) supports the conclusion that when matter looses mass and great deal of energy is produced. I am not sure there has been any experimental observation that energy has been converted into matter (mass). Something like gravity. Matter only falls downward (toward) an another body of greater mass and not upward (toward) a body with lesser mass.
Have a good day, Jerry
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Herb Rose
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Hi Jerry,
Einstein’s E=mc^2 is the basis for the hydrogen bomb. The atomic bomb is a product of fission where the nucleus splits and the energy holding the nucleus together. Fission bombs are the result of large radioactive atoms (uranium, plutonium) becoming smaller atoms and releasing energy. Fusion bombs are where smaller atoms combine to form larger elements and releases energy. Do you see the problem with this?
Why is it an alpha particle with an internal repelling force from 2 protons stable while a neutron with an internal electric force between an electron and a proton is unstable and breaks apart within 10 minutes?
How can there be a gradual conversion of mass into energy for gravity without there being the partial neutrons or protons and a change in the electric properties of the atom? Any release of energy should be a burst as the mass of a neutron converts to energy by a actor of c^2.
Herb
Jerry Krause
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Hi Herb,
First, I do not like really short lines, which will explain why this not direct follow your comment at 7:16pm.
It seems I may have confused things a bit by referring to gravity. I do not consider there is any direct relationship between the force of gravity and the conversion of mass to energy.
So when you asked: “How can there be a gradual conversion of mass into energy for gravity without there being the partial neutrons or protons and a change in the electric properties of the atom?”, I have no idea to what you are referring. Sorry for the confusion I caused.
Have a good day, Jerry
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T. C. Clark
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https://www.helionenergy.com Helion has another approach….fusion is too complex and expensive and super high temps are not needed to produce steam….thorium liquid salts cooled reactors are available…https://www.copenhagenatomics.com
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T. C. Clark
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Helion Energy has a different approach to fusion. Thorium liquid salts cooled reactors seem to be the best approach for nuclear IMO.
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Eric the Red
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Wow, this new discovery means that controlled fusion is just five years away…. just like it’s been for the last 60 years.
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Dr Wilson Sy
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Typical propaganda and hype, without explaining what is the breakthrough. Just like black-box “sophisticated” computer modelling, they like you to be awed without understanding. “How a fusion reactor works is complex…” Nonsense, if I can publish in Nuclear Fusion (IAEA journal) a few decades ago. I don’t recalled (or due to more recent invention) what is Type I ELM, which is the key focus of the breakthrough. What is ELM? They don’t want you to know. They just want you to be awed.
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