OMG! Artificial Sun!!!

I'm with a couple of other posts here that express some reservation about this project. If something goes wrong we could be severely screwed. Some of these projects look like they're getting close to the point of being out of hand - Sandia, some particle accellerators and this. What happens if we loose control? I read recently that a micro-singularity may have been created in a particle accellerator but I haven't read if this had been confirmed from the calculations. I hope they schedule these experiments correctly - some of us could be burned to a cinder and others sucked into a singularity.

I wouldn't worry yourself too much about the experiments going on in particle accelerators, sandia, or in these fusion reactors. As far as the singularities go (mini-black holes) they are too small to do anything and, if the reaction got out of control, the researchers would only need to hit the off switch. If I'm remembering correctly, then such reactions take place in our upper atmosphere all the time.
If a fusion reaction goes horribly wrong, then it's bad news for everyone in the immediate vicinity. Just because it operates on the same prinicple as the sun, does not mean that a failure will have the same ramifications. It lacks the mass to create a black hole on Earth.

But now I'm interested. What would happen (trillion-dollar redundancy systems aside) if the magnetic field dropped mid-reaction, and the tokomak was breached?

[edit on 29-3-2006 by TheGoodDoctorFunk]

at worst you'd have few cubic meters of plasma splashing around the facility, probaby causing some fires and secondary explosions... but nothing more serious since the plasma cools fast if it hits solid materia, the thus cooled plasma is unable to maintain fusion reaction.

Basically if anything goes wrong in the reaction it automatically shuts the fusion off and the walls of the tokamak are solid steel and they should be able to cool and contain the plasma inside the tokamak (remember it's surounded by supercooled magnets and loads of very cold coolants effectively acting as a back up protection)

Can this be far behind?

And.....yes, of course, the US is still having problems building their own fusion reactors. *smacks forehead*
From 2000:
NASA constructs small-scale fusion reactor in what may be the first step towards building fusion rocket engines





seekerof

The chinese are not as advanced in this field as countries such as France and the UK.

Look up 'JET' on google, or ITER, etc.

A Fusion reactor is some 50 years away from being a truly usable energy source, there are many hurdles to this reactor.

1. Materials: the materials required for this reactor must withstand extremely high heat, large neutron flux, etc.. material research is paramount in this application.

2. The reactor itself is a torus, or at least the most common of the reactors....however, most usually equate this method to holding jello together with rubber bands.

A large amount of research must be done to further this concept.

also do not be afraid of this 'artificial sun'. It is no different than a 'FISSION' reactor, except they are fusing light nuclei together instead of breaking them up.


[edit on 043030p://414102 by porky1981]

Originally posted by porky1981
The chinese are not as advanced in this field as countries such as France and the UK.

Look up 'JET' on google, or ITER, etc.

A Fusion reactor is some 50 years away from being a truly usable energy source, there are many hurdles to this reactor.

1. Materials: the materials required for this reactor must withstand extremely high heat, large neutron flux, etc.. material research is paramount in this application.

2. The reactor itself is a torus, or at least the most common of the reactors....however, most usually equate this method to holding jello together with rubber bands.

A large amount of research must be done to further this concept.

also do not be afraid of this 'artificial sun'. It is no different than a 'FISSION' reactor, except they are fusing light nuclei together instead of breaking them up.


[edit on 043030p://414102 by porky1981]

please actually READ the thread before you post a reply

this thing is called EAST and is different from JET

Great, finally fusion is able to be stable. I know in the near-future, the whole world will run on fusion and not oil that cause environment problem and global warming.

upi.com...

artificial sun

yet another idea that arthur c clarke introduced in the space odyssey theory (i'm pretty sure it was in 2010 odyssey 2)

in his book aliens turn jupiter into a second sun

If any one country is on top of fusion research it is the U.K, look up JET, Joint European Torus....Europe in general, the french, germany (helical tokamak reactor), etc..

China has a long way to go...

Not to speak of Stellator desing currently constructed at Max Planck institute in Germany. Stellator is a much more advanced desing when compared to a tokamak... This stellator will not be a production unit and has more fundamental research goals, ITER will be more "advanced" but i assume first large scale reactors will be Stellators instead of Tokamaks.

Originally posted by porky1981
China has a long way to go...

Umm, they are testing it on August 15th...

Source

BEIJING, July 24 (UPI) -- The first plasma discharge from China's experimental advanced superconducting research center -- the so-called "artificial sun" -- is set to occur next month.

The discharge, expected about Aug. 15, will be conducted at Science Island in Hefei, in east China's Anhui Province, the Peoples Daily reported Monday.

Scientists told the newspaper a successful test will mean the world's first nuclear fusion device of its kind will be ready to go into actual operation, the newspaper said.

Yes they're firing up the plasma...
Same level was reached by JET years ago...

Originally posted by northwolf
Yes they're firing up the plasma...
Same level was reached by JET years ago...

Oooo so howcome these articles say that if the testing is sucessful that it will be put into actual operation. What Im saying is, why hasnt JET gotten to this stage yet? And why do the Chinese think that they have?