LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #705, Sunday, (07/28/2024)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

Lloyd A. Williams-Pendergraft

Jul 28, 2024

1

Share

Fusion has often been criticised for always being ’10 years away’

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Sunday, (07/28/2024)

Every few days, or so it seems, I read an optimistic article about how ‘fusion’ nuclear power will replace ‘fission’ nuclear power (sometimes so optimistic that the possibility is “just right around the corner.”) Some media discusses the latest ‘fusion’ breakthroughs as the future of nuclear power and will save us from global warming/climate change created by CO2 and other greenhouse gasses from burning fossil fuel power plants such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Rest assured: that will not happen.

Why? Because, simply said, “fusion” is not a feasible alternative because the best guess of it ever becoming a reality is somewhere nearer the turn of the century (2100), and even by then the probability is extremely doubtful. We have only recently taken the first baby-step into creating fusion on earth.

Here is a brief AI review: “In February 2024, European researchers at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility in the UK set a new world record for sustained and controlled fusion energy, producing 69 megajoules of energy over five seconds. This was triple the amount of energy produced in similar tests in 1997, and enough to power 41,000 homes for five seconds.”

Prior to that the only positive controlled fusion energy was of an even smaller time frame accomplished by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in December of 2023 — just the 2nd time a reactor produced more energy than it consumed. So the only positive thing that can be said about nuclear fusion is that it is possible because it has been done, but only on the smallest of positive scales.

So it baffles me how anyone can say that we will be ‘feasting’ on ‘fusion’ by mid-century. It seems to me that it cannot happen before the turn of the century, and of course, given our history of misunderstanding how to safely handle ‘all things nuclear’, will such a power plant be safe for humanity’s best minds to achieve? I think not. Some of the best minds in the short history of “harnessing” nuclear fission or fusion, including Albert Einstein, have, long ago, said something akin to “forget about it”. ~llaw

The huge challenges in creating fusion power plant

Greig Watson

BBC East Midlands

UK Atomic Energy Authority Fusion reactor
UK Atomic Energy Authority

Fusion has often been criticised for always being ’10 years away’

The project to build a nuclear fusion reactor in Nottinghamshire has been described as the “UK’s Nasa moment”.

But beyond the optimism of an event showcasing the scheme, how close is it to becoming a reality?

Is the promise of clean, cheap and secure energy still obscured by huge scientific, engineering and economic hurdles? And is it safe?

Two experts give us their take.

Former coal fired power station West Burton A, near Retford, was chosen as the location for the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP), in October 2022.

However, even if investors are found and construction completed on schedule, the facility is unlikely to open before 2040.

Explaining the process, Dr Aneeqa Khan, lecturer in nuclear materials at the University of Manchester, said: “Nuclear fusion is the process that powers the Sun, where two nuclei fuse together, liberating huge amounts of energy.

“Recreating the conditions in the centre of the Sun on Earth is a huge challenge.

“We need to heat up isotopes of hydrogen gas so they become the fourth state of matter, called plasma.

“In order for the nuclei to fuse together on Earth, we need temperatures 10 times hotter than the Sun – around 100 million Celsius.”

The promise of fusion is great – but so are the challenges

Dr Brian Appelbe, a research fellow in nuclear fusion at Imperial College London, said fusion differed from traditional nuclear power – fission – in several fundamental ways.

He said: “Fission is about breaking heavy element apart, fusion is about forcing lighter element together.

“The amounts of energy that are released with fusion are far higher than fission.

“And the elements being used, like hydrogen, are far more widely available than the fission fuels. Some, like deuterium, a form of hydrogen, can be sourced from sea water.

“This is a much cleaner source of energy because it makes less radioactive material and it is radioactivity which doesn’t last as long.”

Dr Khan added: “We are still a way off commercial fusion. Building a fusion power plant also has many engineering and materials challenges.

“However, investment in fusion is growing and we are making real progress.

“We need to be training up a huge number of people with the skills to work in the field and I hope the technology will be used in the latter half of the century.

“Global collaboration is key in achieving this.”

Dr Appelbe said: “The news about the Nottinghamshire site is very exciting and there is a lot of development happening but we are still at the scientific stage of developing fusion.

“There is a real momentum building and I am optimistic about overcoming the scientific hurdles to building a functioning fusion power plant but I’m not an engineer or economist.

“But I wouldn’t want to put a timescale on it.”

Getty Images Protest poster
Getty Images

Public opposition has been one of the most powerful obstacles to nuclear power

One of the practical problems which has dogged traditional nuclear power is public opposition, often based around fear of leaks and accidents.

Dr Appelbe said: “I’d certainly live next to a fusion station.

“It uses small amounts of fuel very quickly, so there are not the large amounts of fuel which are around for much longer with fission, which have been the source of some accidents such as Chernobyl.

“This, combined with the challenge of keeping a fusion reaction going, means there is no way you can have catastrophic runaway issues.”


Subscribe

ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 7 categories, with the latest (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

  1. All Things Nuclear
  2. Nuclear Power
  3. Nuclear Power Emergencies
  4. Nuclear War
  5. Nuclear War Threats
  6. Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There is one Yellowstone Caldera bonus storiy available in this evening’s Post.)
  7. IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)

Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Sunday, (07/28/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Putin threatens to restart production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if US

Times of India

… All about viral hepatitis and preventive measures to stop its transmissionBTS Jimin’s ‘Who’ dominates Spotify’s daily top songs – global chart for …

When temptation to spend an inheritance strikes, what’s the right move? – San Diego Union-Tribune

San Diego Union-Tribune

Should California’s Legislature jump into the debate about nuclear waste at San Onofre? Will India surpass California on a theoretical GDP scorecard …

Putin Threatens To Restart Production of Mid-Range Nuclear Weapons – The Moscow Times

The Moscow Times

All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation … Read more about: Putin , Nuclear , Arms. A Message from The Moscow Ti..

Nuclear Power

NEWS

The huge challenges in creating nuclear fusion power plant – BBC News

BBC

The project to build a nuclear fusion reactor in Nottinghamshire has been described as the “UK’s Nasa moment”. But beyond the optimism of an event …

Construction starts on several projects at nuclear power plants, accelerating China’s clean …

Global Times

Construction or upgrading began recently on several projects at nuclear plants in China, a significant development in the country’s nuclear power …

Taiwan decommissions Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant reactor | Taiwan News | Jul. 28, 2024 12:24

Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan decommissioned Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant’s Unit 1 reactor on Saturday (July 27) at 10 p.m..

Nuclear War

NEWS

Putin warns US of Cold War-style crisis if missiles deployed to Germany – Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

Russian leader threatens to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if US deploys missiles to Germany.

Putin warns the US of Cold War-style missile crisis | Reuters

Reuters

MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned the United States that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in …

Putin warns the United States of Cold War-style missile crisis – VOA News

VOA News

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned the United States that if Washington deployed long-range missiles in Germany, then Russia would …

Nuclear War Threats

NEWS

Putin warns US of Cold War-style crisis if missiles deployed to Germany – Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera

But following the end of the Cold War, the US significantly reduced the number of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow receded. The …

U.S. upgrades military command in Japan, warns of China threats | Reuters

Reuters

“Amidst increasingly severe nuclear threats in the vicinity of Japan, it is important to further strengthen extended deterrence. I welcome the …

Chilling US map shows areas most likely to be targeted in a nuclear war – is your state on it?

Irish Star

The threat of nuclear war looms over parts of America as Russia’s … Late in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin stoked further fears when he issued .

Yellowstone Caldera

NEWS

If Yellowstone’s volcanic system erupted, how could it impact the US? – WNCT

WNCT

… Yellowstone were to erupt. The Yellowstone Volcano Observatory said a large eruption at Yellowstone “will not lead to the end of the human race …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.