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New Development in Fusion Energy

Started by josephpalazzo, December 21, 2013, 11:43:34 AM

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josephpalazzo

New imaging technique provides improved insight into controlling the plasma in fusion experiments

QuoteA key issue for the development of fusion energy to generate electricity is the ability to confine the superhot, charged plasma gas that fuels fusion reactions in magnetic devices called tokamaks. This gas is subject to instabilities that cause it to leak from the magnetic fields and halt fusion reactions.

Now a recently developed imaging technique can help researchers improve their control of instabilities. The new technique, developed by physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), the University of California-Davis and General Atomics in San Diego, provides new insight into how the instabilities respond to externally applied magnetic fields.

This technique, called Electron Cyclotron Emission Imaging (ECEI) and successfully tested on the DIII-D tokamak at General Atomics, uses an array of detectors to produce a 2D profile of fluctuating electron temperatures within the plasma. Standard methods for diagnosing plasma temperature have long relied on a single line of sight, providing only a 1D profile. Results of the ECEI technique, recently reported in the journal Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, could enable researchers to better model the response of confined plasma to external magnetic perturbations that are applied to improve plasma.

Imagine the Earth's water containing a virtually inexhaustible supply (10 million million tons) of deuterium and tritium that would be bred in the fusion plant itself. Our energy production would be assured for thousands of years, with the added bonus that it would be clean energy. Now, if only the politicians could get their act together and fund this crucial research that would completely revolutionize the world.

Solitary

And have all the oil barons and investors go broke? :shock:  As if they don't have enough already.  :roll:  Solitary
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action.

josephpalazzo

Quote from: "Solitary"And have all the oil barons and investors go broke? :shock:  As if they don't have enough already.  :roll:  Solitary

The oill barons are not investing in this project, not yet anyway. The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory is operating on a measly budget, considering that it has the potential one day of producing electricity for the whole planet, it's a damn shame.