fusion? Any chance?

Answer 1

I would sure hope so. Our best chance to have an unlimited, pollution free power source.

Answer 2

Nearly all of the energy we consume on earth came from the fusion reaction ongoing in the sun. We have produced it artificially in the laboratory and in the hydrogen bomb. Will we every have controlled fusion as a practical energy source on earth? Scientists consider the payoff high enough, and the chances good enough, that countries are spending huge amounts of money to try to develop it.

Answer 3

To recreate the conditions of the sun and stars for the production of fusion energy on earth, scientists must accomplish three major tasks. They have already passed the first test by achieving the necessary temperatures. In some cases, they have attained temperatures as high as 510 million degrees, more than 25 times the temperature at the center of the sun.

Second, they need to demonstrate sustained reactions where substantial amounts of energy are produced.

The third major milestone for fusion would be operation of a demonstration fusion power plant.

In the most likely scenario for a fusion power plant, a deuterium-tritium (D-T) mixture is admitted to the evacuated reactor chamber and there ionized and heated to thermonuclear temperatures. The fuel is held away from the chamber walls by magnetic forces long enough for a useful number of reactions to take place. The charged helium nuclei which are formed give up energy of motion by colliding with newly injected cold fuel atoms which are then ionized and heated, thus sustaining the fusion reaction. The neutrons, having no charge, move in straight lines through the thin walls of the vacuum chamber with little loss of energy.

The neutrons and their 14 MeV of energy are absorbed in a "blanket" containing lithium which surrounds the fusion chamber. The neutrons' energy of motion is given up through many collisions with lithium nuclei, thus creating heat that is removed by a heat exchanger which conveys it to a conventional steam electric plant. The neutrons themselves ultimately enter into nuclear reactions with lithium to generate tritium which is separated and fed back into the reactor as a fuel.

The successful operation of a fusion power plant will require the use of materials resistant to energetic neutron bombardment, thermal stress, and magnetic forces. Additional work also needs to be done on the design of systems for the removal of spent gas.

The largest current experiment, JET, has resulted in fusion power production slightly less than the power put into the plasma, maintaining an output of 16 MW for a few seconds. In June 2005, the construction of the experimental reactor ITER, designed to produce several times more fusion power than the power put into the plasma over many minutes, was announced. The production of net electrical power from fusion is planned for DEMO, the next generation experiment after ITER.

Dr. H

Answer 4

it is note true that a fusion reactor is clean energy. A fusion reactor burns deuterium and triterium making helium and emitting a neutron which is radioactive for 50-200 years...they solved the whole heat and pressure thing by making a plasma mixture and using strong magnetic field to enflame the plasma

Answer 5

probably... hopefully
with fusion we have an unlimited source of clean energy
we just have to find out how to control the reaction.....

Answer 6

After watching the "Star in a Jar" programme on the TV (Horizon I think} it looks unlikely in the near future.