ilw
11-26-2003, 02:37 PM
Well maybe not so near to you, but France is europes bet, and i for one can't think of a better place for installing an experimental nuclear reactor :lol:
The European Union has chosen France as its preferred location for a nuclear reactor that scientists hope will revolutionise world power production. Scientists say the new reactor will be the first such prototype to give out a lot more power than it consumes. International partners in the immense engineering project include the US, China, Japan, Russia and Korea.
A final decision on the siting of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) should come in December at a meeting of officials involved in its planning.
The EU candidate of Cadarache, in southeastern France, is likely face stiff competition from Rokkasho in Japan.
The Iter project is the latest stage in the decades-long quest to develop fusion power.
To use fusion reactions as an energy source, it is necessary to heat a gas to temperatures exceeding 100 million Celsius - many times hotter than the centre of the Sun. At these temperatures, the gas becomes a plasma.
Under these conditions, the plasma particles, from deuterium and tritium, fuse to form helium and high speed neutrons.
A commercial power station will use the heat generated by the energetic neutrons, slowed down by a blanket of denser material (lithium), to generate electricity.
The fuels used are virtually inexhaustible. Deuterium and tritium are both isotopes of hydrogen. Deuterium is extracted from water and tritium is manufactured from a light metal, lithium, which is found all over the world.
One kilogram would produce the same amount of energy as 10,000,000 kg of fossil fuel.
Iter would be the world's largest international cooperative research and development project next to the International Space Station.
Its goal will be to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for 500 seconds or longer during each individual fusion experiment and in doing so demonstrate essential technologies for a commercial reactor.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3239806.stm
Its cool to think that it might not be long before commercial nuclear fusion reactors are a reality, if they're efficient then such cheap electricity could really change the way our society lives and works.
The European Union has chosen France as its preferred location for a nuclear reactor that scientists hope will revolutionise world power production. Scientists say the new reactor will be the first such prototype to give out a lot more power than it consumes. International partners in the immense engineering project include the US, China, Japan, Russia and Korea.
A final decision on the siting of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) should come in December at a meeting of officials involved in its planning.
The EU candidate of Cadarache, in southeastern France, is likely face stiff competition from Rokkasho in Japan.
The Iter project is the latest stage in the decades-long quest to develop fusion power.
To use fusion reactions as an energy source, it is necessary to heat a gas to temperatures exceeding 100 million Celsius - many times hotter than the centre of the Sun. At these temperatures, the gas becomes a plasma.
Under these conditions, the plasma particles, from deuterium and tritium, fuse to form helium and high speed neutrons.
A commercial power station will use the heat generated by the energetic neutrons, slowed down by a blanket of denser material (lithium), to generate electricity.
The fuels used are virtually inexhaustible. Deuterium and tritium are both isotopes of hydrogen. Deuterium is extracted from water and tritium is manufactured from a light metal, lithium, which is found all over the world.
One kilogram would produce the same amount of energy as 10,000,000 kg of fossil fuel.
Iter would be the world's largest international cooperative research and development project next to the International Space Station.
Its goal will be to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power for 500 seconds or longer during each individual fusion experiment and in doing so demonstrate essential technologies for a commercial reactor.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3239806.stm
Its cool to think that it might not be long before commercial nuclear fusion reactors are a reality, if they're efficient then such cheap electricity could really change the way our society lives and works.