Fusion Is Always 30 Years Away?
There are many critics of fusion who indicate that the reality is different! The most common saying about fusion is that controlled fusion is twenty-five years away… and some say… AND ALWAYS WILL BE!!! In Charles Seife's book, Sun in a Bottle, The Strange History of Fusion and the Science of Wishful Thinking, he makes just such a contention. The book was written in 2008. He argues that JET the Joint European Torus, which others claimed reached breakeven and even exceeded it in pulses of 13 MW, although impressive actually lost 10% of the energy input. He also indicates that
fusion isn't clean and it probably never will be."(6) In terms of ITER's success (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), which is the largest and seemingly most promising test fusion project being undertaken, Seife says,(7) "It is a glorious vision. Unlimited energy- a tiny star bottled in a magnetic jar- would liberate mankind from the fear of global warming and from the impending energy crisis… And if ITER works as planned when scientists turn it on, it will light the way to a fusion reactor. If, miraculously, no more instabilities crop up that prevent scientists from bottling their plasma, fusion energy will be within reach. Scientists would then build a demonstration fusion power plant that would begin operations in 2035 or 2040. After five decades of broken promises, lies, delusions, and self-deception, it will finally be true. Fusion energy will be thirty years away." Already a fusion reactor is anticipated to be ready no sooner than 2050.
All of this indicates the promise of nuclear fusion, the driving hope and Seife's own frustration with the process, but he fails to illuminate all of the progress that has been made and the plasma physics that has had to be learned, applied and difficulties that have had to be overcome. The task is truly monumental! Seife closes his dismissal of fusion as an energy source with the supposition that "the fusion community clings to the hope that fusion energy is just thirty years away- and that it will solve all our energy problems. Despite the failures of the past, despite the enormous hurdles ahead, despite the tremendous cost, despite the easier alternatives, scientists still insist that fusion energy is the path forward. It is just another case of wishful thinking."(8) Charles Seife's frustration is palpable and he makes many good points, but ITER is being built by 7 countries that encompass more than half the world's population… it is moving forward and as pessimistic as Seife can be, the plasma physicist Francis F. Chen is equally unperturbedly optimistic.
History of Fusion
Alchemists were the first to seek nuclear transmutation. The process actually became possible with nuclear fission, which is the splitting apart of larger atoms into smaller ones. Fusion is the combination of elements into larger ones.(9) Scientists realized that nuclear fusion was the process that fuelled the sun and nuclear fission was only understood after Einstein's equation E =mc 2, Francis Aston's accurate measurements of the elements and with the introduction of quantum mechanics!
Uncontrolled Fusion
The hydrogen bomb is an example of uncontrolled fusion. In most cases, hydrogen bombs are atomic (fission) bombs, containing fusion fuel. The atomic bomb is detonated on the inside of a strong vessel, forcing the fusion material into itself, imploding. The fusion fuel, D and T are compressed at high enough temperatures that they undergo fusion and release multitudes more energy.
History of the Tokamak
An early invention by the Russians at the Kurchatov Institute was the development of the tokamak, which "is an acronym of the Russian word for toroidalnaya kamera, for "toroidal chamber," and magnitnaya katushka, for "magnetic coil."(10) This design for magnetic confinement of a plasma was first shared when the international community declassified knowledge about fusion and the United Nations held a conference in Geneva called Atoms for Peace in 1958.
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