You thoughts on Nuclear Fusion ?

[FreakinDJ]

Listened to Dr Moses the other night and he is saying we could have Commercially used Nuclear Fusion Generated Power in 10 years

[greenman3610]

1. fusion has been 10 years off for the last 30 years.

[FreakinDJ]

4. its real and they have had results in "Test Fires" already

Big difference is they are now talking about a commercially viable reactor

In addition to Clean Energy - the New Life Fusion Reactor would take care of all our Nuclear Waste problems

Fusion-fission engines have not advance beyond the discussion stage because powerful high-average-power lasers and other required technologies did not exist. Similarly, accelerator-based schemes never advanced past the conceptual study phase, in part because a complete nuclear fuel cycle – including uranium enrichment and nuclear waste reprocessing – was still required to generate economical electricity.

Ignition experiments designed to accomplish National Ignition Facility (NIF's) goal will begin in 2010, and successful demonstration of ignition and net energy gain on NIF will be a transforming event that is likely to focus the world's attention on the possibility of ICF as a potential long-term energy option.

By integrating fuel generation, energy production and waste minimization into a single device, the LIFE engine requires neither enrichment nor reprocessing, and there is no need to remove fuel or fissile material generated in the reactor. LIFE engines can use fuels without prior enrichment and then burn them so completely that virtually no weapons-attractive material remains at the end of a plant's life.

In addition to burning natural uranium, a LIFE engine can use for its fuel the two waste streams generated by LWRs – spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and depleted uranium (DU) left over from the process used to enrich uranium.

The LIFE engine extracts more than 99 percent of the energy content of its fuel, compared to less than 1 percent of the energy in the ore required to make fuel for a typical LWR. Higher fuel utilization means that far less fuel is required to generate the same amount of energy. A 1,500-megawatt LIFE power plant could operate for 50 years on only a small roomful of fuel.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/12/proposed-laser-ignition-fusionfission.html

[Warpy]

6. It's quite real and several different modalities have worked small scale

The problem with fusion is always the up front energy costs of getting an industrial sized plant up and running. That's what's kept it from being commercially viable all these years.

If fossil fuel costs spike again, then fusion plants will likely go back onto the drawing board, along with all sorts of other energy harvesting plans.

If the government provides the seed money, this will also help alternative energy including fusion to be built.

The long term objective should be to get off fossil fuels, especially those being produced abroad. When we add the cost of the military necessary to keep those fuels available to us, the cost has become prohibitive, much higher than the cost of building a prototype fusion plant a year.

What needs to be done is a campaign to educate the public about this in order to justify the funds necessary for the switchover.

[FreakinDJ]

8. Fusion is the only way this country will stop burning Coal

I'm surprised more people (including Pres. Obama) are not 100% behind this as it has just way too much in the plus column going for it

Finally a means to dispose of spent nuclear waste

Vast amounts of Clean Energy

Reduction in America's Carbon Foot print

A means to bring America back to the top of Technological Advancements

Help bring back Manufacturing Jobs to America

[baldguy]

2. They've been saying that since the '50s.

And the same about fission before that. Nuclear power would be "clean, abundant & too cheap to meter."

[47of74]

3. I'd like to see that

I hope we get to see fusion reactors used for commercial applications someday. If not in the next 10 years, hopefully within my lifetime. Such reactors would be so much better than the fission reactors used now.

[Occulus]

5. Hmmm... seems like I've written about this before...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5450219&mesg_id=5450576

:D

[originalpckelly]

7. Why should we go to all that effort...

when we have a gigantic fusion reaction going completely untapped?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere

We don't need too much in the way of breakthroughs to make a Dyson ring work. We should consider that.

[Laelth]

9. B.S. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth