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progress on prototype fusion power plant

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    :thumb:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    assuming the best, whats the worst that could happen if one of these places goes bang, and i dont mean bang as in explode, but sorta along the lines of vapourising things
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not sure, but considering it'll be run along the lines of nuclear safety probably, most likely they'll be ok. I mean I know chernobyl (sp?) was human error.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    someone who gets obliterated in an extensive explosion really doesnt care if it was human or computer error,

    and thats because they are dead
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    MrG wrote:
    assuming the best, whats the worst that could happen if one of these places goes bang, and i dont mean bang as in explode, but sorta along the lines of vapourising things

    AFAIK fusion dsoesn't work like that. Because it's a fusion reaction, you have to constantly supply it with fuel in order to get the energy. In nuclear fission, you have a mass and hit it with an electron or something and it starts degrading and giving off heat. The problem is if you let it get too hot, the process accelerates and it consumes all the radioactive matter at once, and boom. In a fusion generator you just have a pipe going into the generator with your fuel, hydrogen or helium or something, and you just turn it off and it stops, whereas if you turn fision off it keeps going faster and faster, you need to cool it down with water to stop it.
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    Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    Indeed, well explained.

    Good news though... yay! This could be very good, lets hope it harnessed well.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Lets not forget people, this has enough raw materials to provide power for the entire planet for the next 1000 years.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It wont work. Fusion power on a commercial scale is 100+ years away at best.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well to use an old cliche, every journey starts with a first step. We might not see fusion power plants in our lifetime. Later generations will.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    MrG wrote:
    someone who gets obliterated in an extensive explosion really doesnt care if it was human or computer error,

    and thats because they are dead

    That's why fusion power is good though, because it does not go critical like fission.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    okay ill clarify the details here:
    fission: takes place a room temperature, once it gets going it needs to be stopped or slowed done, which is what control rods do, they absorb the neutrons which further the process thus slowing it down
    fusion: take place at high temperature, and to keep it going you need to confine the plasma via a STRONG magnetic field, if that fails itll melt the container and maybe get a few people in process if they were right next to it, however im quite sure theyll keep some distance from the actual reactor itself as well thats the risk and its VERY hot

    in terms of radiation
    fission:uses highly radioactive material, realises a lot of radiation(the heat part is used for generating electricity) and the waste is extremely toxic and radioactive
    fusion: uses hydrogen and deuterium which are non radioactive, may use tritium, not sure of whether this reactor will which is mildly radioactive, the process generates a lot of radiation and heat which is used, and the end products are helium which is well just helium
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    im going to stay up after i get in from work and do some research on this

    finally something random and seemingly pointless that i have found interest in, havnt been this excited since i started doing a level politics and learning about a grocers daughter
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    wheresmyplacebo wrote:
    the end products are helium which is well just helium
    so if theres a major leak into the environment we all end up singing like the bee gees?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    morrocan roll wrote:
    so if theres a major leak into the environment we all end up singing like the bee gees?

    brilliant then!
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    Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    wheresmyplacebo wrote:
    okay ill clarify the details here: ... (cont.)

    You put Fission twice there. :p
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