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Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

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71–80 of 136 posts

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#71

Assuming these experiments work as desired and this reactor can produce more energy than it takes in, how long will it be (roughly) until a power plant becomes operational (i.e. connected to the grid) that uses this technology? Years, a decade, many decades?

Here's a comment on that by Prof. Dr. Sibylle Günter, Max-Plank-Institut für Plasmaphysik (In German): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sweAVoaVB34

The current schedule is to have an operational power plant in 2050.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#73
post #56
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.

Seriously? One guy (who is not even affiliated with a political party nor has a political office) makes a tasteless comment and suddenly the whole of Germany is supposed to be on the verge of turning fascist again? And even if 25% percent were going far right - there would still be 75% holding other political views. Trust me, Germany is far from going extremist any time soon.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#74
post #54
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?

Befehl ist Befehl ;-)

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#75
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no doubt that a design that goes with the physics (instead of going against it like Tokamaks do) is going to yield great results, however I hope something comes out if it that will also allow for viable Tokamaks. Stellarators are hellishly complex and expensive.

Can you explain what you mean by tokamaks "going against the physics"?

Tokamaks need, to contain the plasma, a continuously changing magnetic field. To create a continuously changing magnetic field, you need to continuously increase or decrease the current.

The issue is that you can not turn up the current more than a maximum level, and you have to keep the direction the same (so you can’t switch between turning off and on).

Stellerators instead solve this with complex geometry and the plasma creating its own continously changing magnetic field.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#77
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find watching the assembly of these ultra-high tech machines to be super inspiring. It gives me all kinds of warm fuzzies to see what we're able to do if we put our mind to it.

Mostly it's inspiring because most people sit back and say "It can't be done, it's impossible" or "wow, they must have had a shit ton of luck to get this out of the door" instead of looking for solutions or ways to circumvent or exploit the million little problems along the way that seek to obstruct the endgame. Kudos to these guys for sticking at it long enough and persevering to achieve their vision.

My inspiration from massive science projects is more like: "With that in mind, debugging this 1500-line function is nothing!"

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#78
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have no doubt that a design that goes with the physics (instead of going against it like Tokamaks do) is going to yield great results, however I hope something comes out if it that will also allow for viable Tokamaks. Stellarators are hellishly complex and expensive.

Can you explain what you mean by tokamaks "going against the physics"?

So far as I understand it (arm chair physicist), Stellerators "shape" the plasma in a "natural" way, Tokamaks force it into a more "unnatural" shape - like trying to put a beach ball [plasma] into a box [torus].

If I misunderstand it disregard my comment entirely, although I'd like to know why.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#79
post #73
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Seriously? One guy (who is not even affiliated with a political party nor has a political office) makes a tasteless comment and suddenly the whole of Germany is supposed to be on the verge of turning fascist again? And even if 25% percent were going far right - there would still be 75% holding other political views. Trust me, Germany is far from going extremist any time soon.

I am not saying we are turning into a fascist country again. Definitely not.

But the right wing terror is getting scary, with dozens of asylum homes being burnt down just this year.

Re: Germany is turning on its monster stellarator

#80
post #59
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

On the other hand it teaches those on the ground that obeying illegal orders is perfectly fine, because, hey, you won't get punished.
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