Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Point out news stories, on the net or in mainstream media, related to polywell fusion.

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crowberry
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Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by crowberry »

Milken Institute organizes an event titled Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived? on Monday, May 2, 2016 / 10:45 am - 11:45 am as part of the Global Conference in Los Angeles with the following speakers:
Speakers
Michl Binderbauer, Chief Technology Officer, Tri Alpha Energy
Michel Laberge, Founder and Chief Science Officer, General Fusion
Thomas McGuire, Research Engineer and Scientist; Compact Fusion Principal Investigator, Lockheed Martin
Dennis Whyte, Director, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, MIT
Some of the events during the conference are streamed, but I have not found if this fusion discussion is streamed or not.

http://www.milkeninstitute.org/events/c ... etail/6222

Skipjack
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by Skipjack »

Looks interesting!

crowberry
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by crowberry »

The event page has now a video of the one hour long panel discussion. The topics discussed are familiar for the readers of TP, but I think they are still very interesting and worth listening to even if the content was general and not technical.

Skipjack
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by Skipjack »

I might have missed it, but I think that none of them mentioned that JET will attempt break even some time before 2019 (IIRC as early as next year). So, the view of the public of nuclear fusion reactors may change sooner than expected.
Also wondering whether it would not be a good idea to update JET with super conducting magnets in another update. It might outperform ITER before it is even turned on.

crowberry
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by crowberry »

Skipjack wrote:I might have missed it, but I think that none of them mentioned that JET will attempt break even some time before 2019 (IIRC as early as next year). So, the view of the public of nuclear fusion reactors may change sooner than expected.
Also wondering whether it would not be a good idea to update JET with super conducting magnets in another update. It might outperform ITER before it is even turned on.
The JET D-T runs will be done to study the new ITER like wall. They plan also to set new records, but this could mean running with the same power level as previously but this time for the full duration of the magnet cycle. Whether they can reach a higher fusion power level or break even or not remains to be seen. Obviously it would be great for the field in general if they could accomplish that.

Rebuilding JET with superconducting magnets would probably be too expensive to make sense.

Skipjack
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by Skipjack »

crowberry wrote: The JET D-T runs will be done to study the new ITER like wall. They plan also to set new records, but this could mean running with the same power level as previously but this time for the full duration of the magnet cycle. Whether they can reach a higher fusion power level or break even or not remains to be seen. Obviously it would be great for the field in general if they could accomplish that.
They also improved the power supply, heating and the neutral beam injection a lot.
They are definitely planning to reach break even and they seem quite confident that they will. I am actually quite confident they will too.
crowberry wrote: Rebuilding JET with superconducting magnets would probably be too expensive to make sense.
Most likely still cheaper and sooner than ITER, which was my point (ITER is delayed yet again and 4 billion Euro more expensive, again).
MIT and Tokamak energy are envisioning something the size of JET (or a bit smaller) as a practical reactor with super conducting magnets (among other things). So I think JET would be perfect for testing at least some aspects of their design (they want to do spherical tokamaks, or spheromaks, though).

ladajo
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by ladajo »

Skippy,
While I truly appreciate your enthusiasm, I would comment, "We shall see". I hope that they do.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)

Skipjack
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by Skipjack »

ladajo wrote:Skippy,
While I truly appreciate your enthusiasm, I would comment, "We shall see". I hope that they do.
There is of course always the possibility that I could be wrong ;)
That said, they already had achieved 0.7 With half (IIRC), the heating power and before the significant update to the neutral beam injectors. So it seems plausible that they can achieve break even. Of course things could go completely sideways and it does not work out, but that would probably mean that ITER will also stay even further behind expectations (not just due to the delays and the exploding costs).
Let me just put it this way: I see a real problem for funding for fusion coming up, if none of the teams currently working on it, have reached break even by the end of the decade.

ladajo
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by ladajo »

It is ironic that LENR seems to be getting more interest and support than Fusion. Although, ITER is certainly comparable to a Fusion Blackhole that is sucking up all the political and real capital.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)

Skipjack
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by Skipjack »

ladajo wrote:It is ironic that LENR seems to be getting more interest and support than Fusion. Although, ITER is certainly comparable to a Fusion Blackhole that is sucking up all the political and real capital.
While, I would generally agree, I want to be fair and say that ITER does at least produce some interesting results. Even if the big reactor is years behind schedule, the supporting projects have improved our understanding of plasma physics and have developed new materials and technology that are of use to the many other projects out there. Now, one could argue that this could have all been done cheaper and I will be the first to criticize the direction the project has taken in terms of cost and timetable, but I think the ITER project still has produced more tangible results than all that LENR stuff.

ladajo
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by ladajo »

I agree.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)

Crawdaddy
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by Crawdaddy »

Skipjack wrote: but I think the ITER project still has produced more tangible results than all that LENR stuff.
This project is on track to flush 10s of billions of public dollars down the toilet.

LENR doesn't even come close.

Dear all:

Please please please stop posting Rossi rants outside of the appropriate threads.

ladajo
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by ladajo »

I would also agree that on a innovation per dollar basis, ITER has not been efficient. That said, I am open to discussing if LENR is seen to have a better innovation per dollar ratio. My sense is not, given how little if anything has yet come out of LENR.

I must have missed the Rossiclown bashing, poop!
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)

Crawdaddy
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Joined: Tue May 31, 2011 5:27 pm

Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by Crawdaddy »

ladajo wrote:I would also agree that on a innovation per dollar basis, ITER has not been efficient. That said, I am open to discussing if LENR is seen to have a better innovation per dollar ratio. My sense is not, given how little if anything has yet come out of LENR.

I must have missed the Rossiclown bashing, poop!
What innovations of value have come from ITER?

You would probably get more bang for the public money wasted by digging a giant hole and filling it in.

ladajo
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Re: Event: Nuclear Fusion: Has Its Time Finally Arrived?

Post by ladajo »

Cryogenics, super conductors, plasma theory, materials, and the list goes on.
The development of atomic power, though it could confer unimaginable blessings on mankind, is something that is dreaded by the owners of coal mines and oil wells. (Hazlitt)
What I want to do is to look up C. . . . I call him the Forgotten Man. (Sumner)

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