NUCLEAR INSANITY & THE LAST DAYS OF HUMAN DEPRAVITY? ~ LLAW
Nov 27, 2024
See “Popular Mechanics” article for credits
LLAW’s NUCLEAR NEWS TODAY & THE IMPACT ON OUR FUTURE
Why do we continue to delve into energy solutions that we don’t understand and some, like nuclear fusion, have long been scientific experiments, most all negatively unsuccessful that can’t possibly be in a “Race Against Time” that will save us from fossil fuels if we continue to demand more electrical power all around the globe. Our nuclear power plants (that operate on a much simpler process called ‘fission’) are not going to solve the fossil fuel problem either because we are also grasping for uranium fuel (which is, in the geological science, a fossil fuel, too, and though nuclear fission not only produces small amounts of greenhouse gasses and uranium mining, milling, and refining are well-known polluters, it all ads up to dealing with nuclear waste and, even worse, radiation — the most dangerous natural resource of them all. Have not nuclear bombs and the looming potential of nuclear war proven that to mankind? I guess not, but I do not understand why not . . .
So there is, logically, no “race” to save humanity from our own greedy power-starved electrical world to save us from our own ‘race’ to eventual extinction. That is, if nuclear war doesn’t do us in first. The only ‘race’ among fusion’s experimental scientific laboratories would be to see who creates successful fusion first, which may never happen for all kinds of reasons. But as “Popular Mechanics” and author Caroline Delbert points out quite well, we maybe wasting our available collective time. ~llaw
In the Race Against Time for Fusion, a New Reactor May Break the Final Barrier
Still, the hope of limitless energy clashes with the realities of scientific hurdles.
By Caroline Delbert Published: Nov 26, 2024 8:00 AM EST
sakkmesterke//Getty Images
- The science news ecosystem repeats unfounded claims about nuclear fusion.
- OpenStar’s reactor has an unusual design, but it’s just as unproven as all the others.
- Their reactor has a central magnet inside a sphere of plasma, instead of a traditional donut.
A recent spate of nuclear fusion announcements have covered an emerging fusion reactor in New Zealand. The company behind this reactor, OpenStar, claims to have the only viable path to producing energy using nuclear fusion in the near future.
Their unusual design comes from a 20-year-old experiment that began at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). But nuclear fusion has become a very crowded house, and almost all the startups are linked with prestigious universities like this. Is OpenStar’s idea really going to break through the noise? We don’t have enough information yet, and repeating these claims does not help science.
The kernel of news from New Zealand-based OpenStar is that their experimental reactor, named Junior, has achieved first plasma. To be clear, this is not a step toward producing energy using nuclear fusion—it’s almost the opposite. All fusion reactors require an extraordinary amount of construction and power before they can predictably turn a cloud of (usually hydrogen) gas into a hydrogen plasma. This involves electrical current, powerful electromagnets, and so on.
First plasma, as a milestone, only shows that your fusion reactor was constructed and plugged in correctly. There are countless more milestones that need to be hit on the way to energy production, and OpenStar promises these in the next six years. But along the way, they’re not opposed to celebrating milestones equivalent to kindergarten in a school where no student has made it even to ninth grade—nor are they alone in doing so. Fusion companies do this all the time, and the echo chamber of fusion news sites repeats the story, often just rephrasing a press release and repeating claims without the context that there have been a dozen similar claims in the last five years.
So, what makes OpenStar different within this crowded and echoing field? That, at least, has a concrete answer. It’s all in the shape. Most of the active fusion reactor experiments around the world are tokamaks, but OpenStar’s is not. A tokamak is a toroidal (donut-shaped) chamber where a stream of plasma is held in place (and away from the walls of the tokamak) by electromagnets. As plasma is heated, it becomes too hot for traditional containers and materials to hold it, so the magnetic fields keep it contained. Those magnetic fields also keep the plasma as condensed as possible to encourage the charged atoms to fuse.
IEEE Spectrum recently reported on OpenStar’s choice to “ditch the traditional doughnut-shaped design.” Instead of a surrounding structure of magnets, their design has one central magnet and an overall spherical shape. That magnet must be a superconductor for the design to work, and for that to function as necessary, it must be chilled to near absolute zero using ongoing and expensive equipment. For their demonstration, they precooled the magnet to ensure an 80-minute window of operability before it grew too warm—something that likely won’t be practical when using a fusion reactor to produce energy, when the cost of bringing the reactor down from fusion temperature and back up again could cost many thousands of dollars in labor, electricity, and other resources.
That central magnet—which the team at OpenStar says will include batteries in order to help it function longer—sits in the midst of a plasma stream that will reach over 100 million degrees Celsius. If all of this works (which is an enormous, unproven “if”), the design of the reactor has the potential to be more efficient and powerful than tokamak designs.
But, again, none of this has ever worked. Everyone’s timelines and milestones are still speculation.
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TODAY’s NUCLEAR WORLD’s NEWS, Wednesday, (11/27/2024)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
India’s New Nuclear Submarine Base Challenges China’s Naval Ambitions – WSJ
WSJ
India and China are competing for influence in a critical area of the Indian ocean—the Bay of Bengal—with nuclear submarines, military bases and a …
In the Race Against Time for Fusion, a New Reactor May Break the Final Barrier – Popular Mechanics
Popular Mechanics
Still, the hope of limitless energy clashes with the realities of scientific hurdles.
Team Trump mustn’t buy Putin’s nuke threats: We’re not on the verge of WW III
New York Post
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is beating his chest again, hinting he may use nuclear weapons, but no one — particularly President-elect Don..
Nuclear Power
NEWS
Map Shows States Generating the Most Nuclear Energy – Newsweek
Newsweek
Data from the Energy Information Administration has revealed which states are producing the most energy through nuclear power.
Why Businesses and the Government Are Turning to Nuclear Reactors for Our Increasing …
POWER Magazine
To offset the rising consumption, Fortune 500 companies, as well as the federal and local governments, are now looking to advanced nuclear reactor …
Nuclear energy adaptation faces setbacks – YouTube
YouTube
… nuclear power by 2040, according to officials from the Ministry of Energy. The State Minister for Energy, Sidronius Okasai Opolot, emphasized the …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Emergency leaders say nuclear reactors pose unnecessary risk – News Hub
News Hub – Medianet
The ELCA submission highlights that nuclear reactor emergency planning and management has not been addressed by proponents of nuclear energy and …
Court upholds rejection of call to halt Miyagi Prefecture nuclear reactor – Kyodo News
Kyodo News
… emergency evacuation plans for the Onagawa nuclear power plant’s No. 2 unit in Miyagi Prefecture, stating they were not relevant as it could not …
Public can question nuclear plant owner about restart at open house – mlive.com
MLive.com
A recent public meeting in Benton Harbor hosted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission focused on the return of wider emergency preparedness in …
Nuclear War
NEWS
Nuclear Bomb Map Shows Impact of Russian Weapons on Major US Cities – Newsweek
Newsweek
Escalating tensions between the U.S. and Russia over the war in Ukraine are promoting talk and fears of WWIII and a nuclear war.
Russia’s Updated Nuclear Doctrine Isn’t a Blueprint for Weapons Use. Its Primary Value Is …
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Moscow’s actual nuclear decisions would likely not involve Putin carefully parsing doctrinal clauses.
What Can Stop the Cycle of Escalation in Ukraine? | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
Joshua Yaffa on the tenuous trajectory of the war in Ukraine, new weapons from the Biden Administration, and Vladimir Putin’s threat of a Russian …
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
Team Trump mustn’t buy Putin’s nuke threats: We’re not on the verge of WW III
New York Post
Team Trump mustn’t buy Putin’s nuke threats: We’re not on the verge of WW III … Vladimir Putin has …
Nuclear Bomb Map Shows Impact of Russian Weapons on Major US Cities – Newsweek
Newsweek
As global tensions escalate amid threats of nuclear war from Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, Newsweek has looked at the impact of a Russian …
Putin Ally Issues Nuclear War Warning to US – Newsweek
Newsweek
He continued, “Yet I must comment on the nonsense: 1) The very threat of transferring nuclear weapons to the Kyiv regime can be considered preparation .
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
Small 3.7 Quake Hits Near Mammoth Lakes, Mono County, California, USA
Volcano Discovery
More on VolcanoDiscovery … List and interactive map of current and past earthquakes near Yellowstone volcano. … Browse through our photo galleries …