Fusion power

Fusion energy research is also the primary avenue for the development of plasma physics as a scientific discipline. The technologies and the science of plasmas developed en route to fusion power are already important in other appHcations and fields of science (see Plasma technology). 

Deuterium—deuterium reactions are harder to ignite and yield less energy than D—T reactions, but eventually should be the basis of fusion energy production (172). Research into the production of fusion power has been ongoing since the 1950s (173—177) (see Eusion energy). 

Next generation machines will impose inereasingly greater thermal loads on their PFCs. High thermal conductivity CFC materials may offer a solution to the high-heat loads, but further research is needed to overeome the problems noted above and to assure the place of earbon materials in future fusion power reaetors. 

Heppenheimer, T. A. (1984). The Man Made Sun The Quest for Fusion Power. Boston Little, Brown and Company. 

The ability of some plastic systems to do this may be useful in schemes for handling the radiation output of nuclear devices, including the radiation from the fusion power machines under development. Obviously the application is not for shielding, which the heavy metals do much better, but rather for an energy level reduction system that would convert the high energy radiation to forms which would be more useful in power distribution. 

C22-0068. Describe the features of fusion that have prevented fusion power from being commercialized as fission power has been. 

C22-0130. List the advantages and disadvantages of fission power and fusion power. Based on your list, do you think that the United States should continue to develop fission power plants What about fusion power plants ... 

Lenton, T.M. and Wilkinson, D.M. (2003). Developing the Gaia theory. Climatic Change, 58, 1-12. Llewellyn-Smith, C. and Ward, D. (2005). Fusion Power. European Review, 13, 337-360. 

Big Bang nucleosynthesis produced only H and He atoms with a little Li, from which nuclei the first generation of stars must have formed. Large clouds of H and He when above the Jeans Mass condensed under the influence of gravitational attraction until they reached the temperatures and densities required for a protostar to form, as outlined. Nuclear fusion powers the luminosity of the star and also results in the formation of heavier atomic nuclei. 

In the future, when nuclear fusion power plants are in operation, most of these disadvantages will not be a concern. Fusion reactions produce only short-lived isotopes and so there would be no long-term storage problems. An added advantage is that there is a virtually inexhaustible supply of deuterium fuel in the world s oceans. 

Fusion power, noble gases and, 17 375 Fusion process, 9 278 10 361-364, 365 Fusion reactors, vanadium in, 25 526 FutureGen Program (Department of Energy), 13 845 Fuzzy logic control, 20 698-699 Fuzzy rules, 20 699 F values, 13 252... 

Fusion power offers the prospect of an almost inexhaustible source of energy for future generations, but so far it has also presented insurmountable scientific and engineering challenges. Nuclear fusion is unlikely to play any role before 2050. 

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. 

Staled simplistically, capturing energy from nuclear fusion is like that of building immature suns on Earth, where temperatures and other physical parameters of dimensions that stretch the imagination are involved. Superbly durable materials are required and remain to be developed. Scaled-down models for experimental purposes are large and consequently costly to construct. Thus, it is dear that fusion power research is no abode for the short-term pragmatist, the irresolute, nr the impatient. ... 

Means to confine the plasma have been ihe major objective of fusion power research in several countries for a number of years. Methods researched lor confining the plasma include the use of strong magnetic fields and inertial confinement methods in which the fuel is pelletized in a special way and fusion reactions are initiated either by laser beams, beams of panicles, and heating the plasma with high power microwave radiation.2 Other means are being researched. 

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