February 2, 2004

Fusion reactors

Great overview on the current thinking in self-sustaining fusion reactors from PhysicsWeb: bq. For the last 200 years the bulk of our energy has come from the burning of fossil fuels. However, this finite reserve is running out, and the only way to meet the world's increasing energy demands is to develop alternative energy sources, such as renewable energy, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. Fusion is the least developed of these but it has the potential to provide a virtually inexhaustible source of energy. It is also safer than fission, and would produce no "greenhouse gasses" such as carbon dioxide. A fusion reactor burning just 1 kg of fuel per day could produce a sustained power output of 1 GW. This is where the brass ring is people - controlled sustained fusion is the holy grail and everything else is just a stopgap technology. There are no commercial business at this time (anyone who says they are is probably a huckster) but the next twenty years will be very interesting. Cold fusion got people's hopes up for a bit but it was proved to be a lab error. There is a Farnsworth fusor (invented by Philo Farnsworth who also invented television) but its energy production is way less than unity (more in than out) Interesting stuff! Posted by DaveH at February 2, 2004 12:50 PM