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Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

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Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#51

Post by XorNot »

nabla9 wrote: post #31
InclinedPlane wrote: post #6

This is likely to be more important, for much less expenditure, than ITER. Edit: to add some additional context, the main problem with fusion reactors is confinement time and plasma stability. The general idea of a fusion power plant using magnetic confinement is that a gas is turned into plasma, confined magnetically, and heated until it can undergo significant fusion reactions. There are two core problems to creati…

This is wrong comparison. Wendelstein 7-X is small early experimental reactor for testing stellator geometry for reactor. Research questions are similar to where JET (the largest working tokamak today) was 30 years ago. Stellator is more complex design but promises inherently stable containment. ITER is solving different questions. ITER solves engineering problems for full-scale electricity-producing reactor that wou…

This is exactly right. Regardless of which technology proves viable first, the reactors will have their parts built in the same factories.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#53

Post by kuschku »

ck2 wrote: post #34

Every week I learn something new to admire about Germany. Or at least its responsible investment behavior by its government. USA would not build such a thing in today's political climate of nonsense unless it had weapons research possibilities.

Actually, the US invested in both the National Ignition Facility for H-Bomb and Fusion research, and in ITER.

Just because the US invests rarely in civilian research doesn’t mean they never do (compared to military research; compared to other countries they still invest a lot in civilian research)

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#54

Post by archon »

kuschku wrote: post #48
flexie wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes they keep it very quiet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal No, seriously. All these statements about German character or German mentality should stop. If the last few months haven't taught us anything else, at least it should have taught us that. First, Germans and the German government were praised as reliable in connection with the Grexit (as opposed to the Greeks), then a few mon…

And how did VW handle it? CEO resigned, 10 board members suspended, all non-management employees (engineers, programmers, etc) have full immunity, even if they worked on the defeat device. That’s the most honorable reaction one could expect, and it allows to get rid of the issue.

> all non-board employees have full immunity, even if they worked on the defeat device

I'm not trying to pick a fight, but how is that in any way honorable?

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#55

Post by eli_gottlieb »

flexie wrote: post #43
insulanian wrote: post #22

That's how Germans do it - they keep quiet and just do it. Respect!

Sometimes they keep it very quiet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal No, seriously. All these statements about German character or German mentality should stop. If the last few months haven't taught us anything else, at least it should have taught us that. First, Germans and the German government were praised as reliable in connection with the Grexit (as opposed to the Greeks), then a few mon…

>I wonder if mentality and national traits even exist.

Sometimes, but more often they're more propaganda than truth.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#56

Post by kuschku »

[deleted] wrote: post #52

[deleted]

Actually, the "someone comes in from the right" is already there, the right-national has almost 14% of the population behind it now, with more people being able to "imagine voting for them".

And with them saying things like "Yes, there is a problem with the refugees from Syria, sadly, the concentration camps are currently closed" it’s getting a bit scary.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#57

Post by Gravityloss »

insulanian wrote: post #22

That's how Germans do it - they keep quiet and just do it. Respect!

You're probably mostly reading English language media, which reports a lot less on German stuff than American and British. Probably if one read Frankfurter Allgemeine, Spiegel and Focus, this would have been popping up there a lot.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#59

Post by kuschku »

archon wrote: post #54
kuschku wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how did VW handle it? CEO resigned, 10 board members suspended, all non-management employees (engineers, programmers, etc) have full immunity, even if they worked on the defeat device. That’s the most honorable reaction one could expect, and it allows to get rid of the issue.

> all non-board employees have full immunity, even if they worked on the defeat device I'm not trying to pick a fight, but how is that in any way honorable?

Because this defeat device is nothing you should blame on a single engineer, it is clearly a systematic issue, and normal engineers should not be held accountable for actions that the CEO and board forced them to do.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#60

Post by mdellabitta »

kohanz wrote: post #50
XorNot wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nucleons are reacting. It's most definitely a nuclear reactor of some type.

nuclear reactor of any kind They're not disputing the nuclear term, but fission vs. fusion .

Ding ding ding.

Also, hello from Indian Point, Buchanan, NY! I can see a containment dome as I write this.

Next up on my Snake Plisskin-esque commute is literally going through Sing Sing prison: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.1506265,-73.8700067,613m/dat... (those train tracks are the Metro North Hudson line, among other things)

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