MIT and newly formed company launch effort to build compact tokamak pilot plant

Post by adrianN » Sat, Mar 10, 2018, 3:03 PM UTC

mannykannot wrote: post #29

MayeulC wrote: post #14

This is yet another area where high temperature superconductors revolutionizes its engineering. I can't wait for more insights to be made in this domain: the way superconductors behave is actually becoming clearer and clearer from one year to another. Ambient temperature superconductors are the holy grail of the field, of course, but this project shows that even ~80 K superconductors can substantially reduce the size…

I cannot help but think that ITER has been a harmful mistake. With at least 17 years to go before it is operational, it already seems obsolescent in some key technological areas, such as magnets, yet it keeps on going, sucking up funds that might be better applied elsewhere (though whether they would be is an open question.) The project reminds me of Britain's attempt to build the airliner of the future in the Bristo…

Post by mannykannot » Sat, Mar 10, 2018, 3:08 PM UTC

adrianN wrote: post #41

mannykannot wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cannot help but think that ITER has been a harmful mistake. With at least 17 years to go before it is operational, it already seems obsolescent in some key technological areas, such as magnets, yet it keeps on going, sucking up funds that might be better applied elsewhere (though whether they would be is an open question.) The project reminds me of Britain's attempt to build the airliner of the future in the Bristo…

A lot of the technology used in practice is very out of date. Engineers usually call this proven and reliable.

Post by epistasis » Sat, Mar 10, 2018, 3:16 PM UTC

tinco wrote: post #5

vosper wrote: post #4

Fusion is still exciting, but with normal renewable (solar, wind) costs plummeting the way they are is there still such a compelling case for pouring money into fusion? This one aims to produce a working plant within 15 years. I'm not sure that any of the other efforts are closer to being viable (if they work at all). That's the kind of time frame in which we may master offshore wind and grid-attached storage like th…

Solar and wind will never be enough to cover all energy demand. It is a common misconception, it is not even possible to reduce energy consumption to low enough that solar and wind would be sufficient. If we want to stop burning fuel, we must research nuclear. Of course it is unlikely that we would stop burning fuel any time soon, and that's why 15 years is unfortunately not an inconvenient timeline. If you're intere…

Post by mannykannot » Sat, Mar 10, 2018, 3:31 PM UTC

jmiserez wrote: post #35

mannykannot wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cannot help but think that ITER has been a harmful mistake. With at least 17 years to go before it is operational, it already seems obsolescent in some key technological areas, such as magnets, yet it keeps on going, sucking up funds that might be better applied elsewhere (though whether they would be is an open question.) The project reminds me of Britain's attempt to build the airliner of the future in the Bristo…

Your 17 years are off, experiment begin is in 2027: https://www.iter.org/construction/timeline And even then, the time until “operational” is not spent idling, the project has sparked and funded lots of research in various domains. It’s like the space race, at some point you just have to start building something for there to be any actual progress.

Post by wongarsu » Sat, Mar 10, 2018, 3:34 PM UTC

jdhn wrote: post #40

Yetanfou wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is one effect you're missing, the part where those countries which were dependent on income from fossil fuels won't just quietly subside back into their previous state of being. While Venezuela has already dealt with the problem by self-immolation the same can not be said about two other big oil and gas exporters: the middle eastern countries and Russia. To start with the latter, Russia stands to lose not only…

The demand for Russian natural gas will only plummet if there's a huge shift from natgas heating to electric heat, and that would take hundreds of billions (if not trillions) of Euros to accomplish.