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Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

news.bbc.co.uk

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Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#21

Post by Retric »

pierrefar wrote: post #18
randallsquared wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water. Since Farnsworth Fusors are used commercially for neutron production, I'm sure those using them would be flummoxed to find that said neutrons are generated via hoax. :)

OK, you're right, hoax is the wrong word. Sorry about that. What irked me is this kind of hyped up story of "little guy in a workshop makes amazingly complex device and look, he's going to beat all these scientists supported by billions of $". It is way too common and, frankly, bad reporting. Neil Calder, quoted in the article, summed it up nicely: we look forward to your ideas, but good luck. Not once did the BBC me…

A table top device that produces enough electricity to microwave your coffee is going to release enough fast neutrons to kill everyone in the room inside a week.

Having said that these are fairly safe toys that look cool and can get you written up in the paper. IMO, the really problem is simply bad reporting.

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#22

Post by harshpotatoes »

jasongullickson wrote: post #12
Tichy wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that none of these amateur physicists are generating any power. I guess the holy grail is not fusion, but generating power from it.

The Fusor produces interesting byproducts as well: " He was absolutely convinced that he had observed the fusion of deuterium into tritium and/or helium 3 in his equipment. " from: http://itseasyto.com/farnsworth.htm ...it's a good source of neutrons.

Yeah, i was wondering about that. Neutrons are a very hard particle to stop, being uncharged, and are a pretty dangerous type of radiation. Does he keep his fusion reactor surrounded by tons of water all day? The article mentions this reactor is perfectly legal, but i know radiation sources are a very regulated thing. On one hand, his reactor probably only produces afew neutrons a minute, and so probably wouldn't be regulated or be a danger to anybody. On the other hand, im just speculating, how do i know the neutron production of this guys reactor? Has anybody measured it to determine it is safe? Why was the BBC so lazy in researching this article?

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#23

Post by grogers »

ErrantX wrote: post #7
rbanffy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like a Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor It's a reasonably good neutron source with little chance of generating more power than it consumes to sustain the fusion process. edit: And the classic NIMBY reaction is priceless.

More specifically this seems to be Bussards version of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywell

I read ithat paragraph as he hoped to build a Polywell, if he could get the money (unlikely). Which would mean that what he built is just a regular fusor.

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#26

Post by randallsquared »

pierrefar wrote: post #18
randallsquared wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water. Since Farnsworth Fusors are used commercially for neutron production, I'm sure those using them would be flummoxed to find that said neutrons are generated via hoax. :)

OK, you're right, hoax is the wrong word. Sorry about that. What irked me is this kind of hyped up story of "little guy in a workshop makes amazingly complex device and look, he's going to beat all these scientists supported by billions of $". It is way too common and, frankly, bad reporting. Neil Calder, quoted in the article, summed it up nicely: we look forward to your ideas, but good luck. Not once did the BBC me…

So, not a hoax, but written up like one.

No argument there. Most science reporting appears to be done as "Find a narrative; look for a sciencey story that can be made to fit the narrative; write article".

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#27

Post by GrandMasterBirt »

Does anyone else here notice the wonderful reporting "neighbors have mixed feelings on nuclear reactor". Yes, most people will be terrified to know that there is a nuke-of-sorts being built next door. Few know that nuclear reactor != the same stuff used for the a-bomb and Chernobyl. So yes, people have mixed reactions. I wonder how many people are actually aware of the difference between Fusion and Fission.

The reactions are: They don't understand WTF the guy is doing, and therefore think they got a nuke in the backyard. Or. Yay we don't need no stinkin' oil.

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#28

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Tichy wrote: post #8
pierrefar wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one of those hoax stories that keeps popping up, along with energy from water. Try this copy/paste from the story: "He is the 38th independent amateur physicist in the world to achieve nuclear fusion from a homemade reactor, according to community site Fusor.net. Others on the list include a 15-year-old from Michigan... Some experts are sceptical that all these people are producing fusion reactions, but when he…

The problem is that none of these amateur physicists are generating any power. I guess the holy grail is not fusion, but generating power from it.

This breakeven point wasn't hit for solar cells until the 1990s.

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#29

Post by jcl »

...$4,000 he raised on a website that connects artists and inventors with private investors.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1992078142/building-the-...

The guy also has a blog:

http://prometheusfusionperfection.com/

And a GitHub repo with Ruby code for generating .stl fabrication files, for those who want to follow along at home:

http://github.com/famulus/decawell

Re: Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC

#30

Post by ScotterC »

GrandMasterBirt wrote: post #27

Does anyone else here notice the wonderful reporting "neighbors have mixed feelings on nuclear reactor". Yes, most people will be terrified to know that there is a nuke-of-sorts being built next door. Few know that nuclear reactor != the same stuff used for the a-bomb and Chernobyl. So yes, people have mixed reactions. I wonder how many people are actually aware of the difference between Fusion and Fission. The react…

Conflating nuclear weapons and nuclear power is one thing that I will never forgive my parent's generation for.

To nit pick however. An A-bomb and Chernobyl are also completely different. Chernobyl was a graphite moderated reactor which means it does not have a negative void coefficient (unlike American light water reactors) but has fuel with about 5% U-235. An A-bomb requires about 90% U-235 to sustain a chain reaction. I can nit pick this a lot further but that's the general gist.

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