Clean, Limitless Fusion Power Could Arrive Sooner Than Expected

and could arrive sooner than expected.

They said the same thing back in the 80's too and I am still waiting and will probably still be waiting in another 30 years.

when we're talking about limitless, clean power, it's probably worth investing a few billion dollars, even if it doesn't work out.

Even if it doesn't work, well let me get out my checkbook then.

The same issue arises with orbiting solar collector concepts. The area of the planet is fixed, and the only way to get rid of the waste heat after it has been used, is for the temperature to increase.

For black body radiation, Q=UA(T₂⁴-T₁⁴). Sounds familiar?

I would think that any heat we produce would be miniscule compared to the amount of energy the earth receives from the sun and reradiates into space.

≈0.5% and rising.

The numbers I've seen are 15 TW for total global power used and 174 PW for influx of solar energy. That comes out to about 0.086%. If the earth radiates like a black body (P proportional to T⁴) , that much would amount to a 0.0215% increase in temperature, assuming that our 15 TW is not part of the 174 TW.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_energy_consumption

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth's_energy_budget

assuming that our 15 TW is not part of the 174 TWSorry, type, shuda been 174 PW

"Humans, given a limitless resource are inclined to use without limit and well..."

. . .

Yea , I would just as soon NOT have a bunch of boneheads running around trying to prove that "My Limitless Supply is bigger'n Your Limitless Supply"...

Hurricanes and cyclones do that for us. (heat pumping to space)

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/D7.html

By NOAA estimates if I read this correctly, about 1/4 of a percent of the storms energy goes into horizontally oriented winds, the remainder of the energy is used up in the updrafts that create the bands of thunderstorms that typically surround the hurricane/cyclone. That energy, if I understand correctly, gets into the upper atmosphere where it can more easily radiate out into space.

Cheers !

Don't hold your breath, as we've been hearing this chant errr rant from the scientific community for nearly 50 years.....

Same same talk, over and over again, just to placate the politicals, so more funding $$$ checks are cut.

"Billions and Billions and Billions.........."

I'd be nice if it would work, but........I'd like a nifty Star Gate whipped up too!

Sooner than 30 years ago? Inertial confinement (instead of magnetic confinement as in the tokamak) does look like the way forward, but there remains the problem of getting useful energy out of the brief fusion event. It's like trying to use dynamite for power generation. Big Bang science, however futile and perhaps dangerous, does have the benefit of keeping paychecks coming to nuclear scientists so they don't go rogue.

Yeah, the Soviets began their Tokamak projects back in the 1960's, IF I'm not mistaken. Agreed that a torus of some type is the way to go, as long as the magnetic fields are sufficient to contain the plasma and prevent it's demise.

Now, it's more of an engineering quest and challenge than a scientific one....

Friends,

"Clean"??? There is a very significant problem of neutron radiation and resultant creation of radioactive materials in the surrounding medium. One person on the original blog site commented on the possibility of non-neutron producing fusion, but that will be even harder to do. The quietly-discussed failure of fission reactors is the very high amount of radioactive waste products produced, with requirements to safely contain them for millenia after the useful life of the reactor itself has ended.

"Cheap"??? That was predicted for fission reactors. However, their actual cost has yet to be tabulated. Design and construction are significant costs. Operation is not too expensive. Decommisioning is just beginning to be evaluated. Storage and protection for the byproducts is a huge nightmare nobody has put costs to yet.

"Soon"??? Everyone is right to note that we have been working on it for over 50 years and the projected solution has always been 10-20 years away. A breakthrough is always possible. Probable is another topic in a different universe.

--JMM

If they continue to try using Hydrogen-Hydrogen fusion, or even Deuterium-Tritium fusion here on Earth we will be waiting for a few centuries.

The only fusion that has a chance of operating at a sustainable level on Earth is He₃-He₃ fusion. Granted there is very little He₃ on Earth, that is why we need to mine it on the Moon, or even take it directly from the Solar Wind. After all, the Sun produces at least a million tons daily.

Estimates are that a Shuttle cargo bay (roughly the size of a Semi-trailer) could easily contain sufficient He₃ to power the United States for an entire year.

Dragon