Fusion economic

J. P. Holdren and co-workers. Report of the S enior Committee on Environmental, Safety, and Economic Nspects of Magnetic Fusion Energy, report UCRL-53766, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, Calif., Sept. 25, 1989. 

Treatment of slimes for economic recovery of silver, gold, selenium, tellurium, and other trace elements requires fusion and oxidation in a furnace. The furnace gases are exhausted through a wet scrubber followed by an ESP to recover the metals. 

See also Acid Rain Air Pollution Atmosphere Carson, Rachel Climatic Effects Disasters Environmental Economics Fossil Fuels Gasoline and Additives Gasoline Engines Government and the Energy Marketplace Nuclear Fission Nuclear Fusion Nuclear Waste. 

The description of the association of heterocychc chemistry and microwave irradiation has also shown that performing microwave-assisted reactions should be considered with special attention. A few of these considerations can be applied generally for conducting microwave-assisted reactions and include the following (a) the ratio between the quantity of the material and the support (e.g., graphite) or the solvent is very important (b) for solid starting materials, the use of solid supports can offer operational, economical and environmental benefits over conventional methods. However, association of liquid/solid reactants on solid supports may lead to uncontrolled reactions which may result in worse results than the comparative conventional thermal reactions. In these cases, simple fusion of the products or addition of an appropriate solvent may lead to more convenient mixtures or solutions for microwave-assisted reactions. 

An increase in energy supplies would obviously relieve the pressures. While major additional contributions might come from renewable energy or fusion, it would be impmdent to count on them. Therefore, to avoid a tremendous gamble on the economic and social future of the world, it is important to lay the foundation for a substantial expansion in the use of fission energy. 

Fusion will not proceed at a reasonable rate without an enormous initial input of energy. This is not a problem in the core of the Sun, where the temperature ranges from 7 500 000°C to 15 000 000°C. It is a problem in industry. Scientists are working on safe and economical ways to provide the high-temperature conditions that are needed to make fusion a workable energy source. 

Sulfonation of Benzene and Alkylbenzenes. Since the main utilization of ben-zenesulfonic acid was its transformation to phenol, the importance of the sulfonation of benzene has diminished. The process, however, is still occasionally utilized since it is a simple and economical procedure even on a small scale. Excess sulfuric acid or oleum is used at 110-150°C to produce benzenesulfonic acid.97,102 Sulfonation of toluene under similar conditions yields a mixture of isomeric toluenesul-fonic acids rich in the para isomer. This mixture is transformed directly to cresols by alkali fusion. 

I he fossil fuels currently available to us are limited. At present rates of con-X sumption, known recoverable oil and gas reserves will disappear by the end of the century and coal reserves several centuries after that. Furthermore, burning fossil fuels adds undesirable amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Nuclear fission reactors do not emit greenhouse gases, but they generate massive quantities of radioactive wastes. Nuclear fusion reactors offer many potential benefits, but it may take many decades before they are both technologically and economically feasible. So what do we do ... 

Home page for the US. Fusion Energy Sciences Program, whose mission is to acquire the knowledge base needed for an economically and environmentally attractive fusion energy source. Many useful links to worldwide fusion projects are included. 

There are great technological hurdles to overcome in creating an economically viable nuclear fusion power plant. Countries, therefore, are teaming up to develop nuclear fusion energy so as to pool their financial and intellectual resources. 

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