Jones.energy.water.spring.2010

Nuclear Fusion

__**What is the Problem at hand**__ Oil is our pride and glory. With no oil the industrial ecomony would plunder. Homes, Industries, and business's are designed that oil is always going to be the energy source at affordable prices and ease of access. Thing is suplly and demand is rapidly changing and the price has become a mystery. Our worlds oil supply is a nonrenewable source of energy. Many say its a cause of global warming, that is why alternative energy source need to be pursued. One source that shall change the future is Nuclear Fusion.

Even though earths supply of oil is depleting, industries that rely on oil and not halting or slowing their drilling and want as much as they can get. Its not neccessarily their fault for doing so, the demand for oil is extremely high and to accomodate for high prices they need a higher supply. This recent old spill in the gulf is said to be losing a mere 110+ barrels or oil a day. Things like this make the problem become and issue.
 * __What is the driving force of the problem__**

__**What are people currently doing to solve the problem**__ People all over the world are constantly trying to turn this problem around. Things like wind turbines which pay for themselves over a period of time and produce energy efficiently. Newer cars are using methods like fuel cells and hydrogen to become green friendly. Things like solar, wind, and hydro have become newer ways to create energy and a starting to be able to produce more and more energy as science prevails.

We live in an depleting world. Sooner or later earths fossil fuels are indeed going to run out, we can't run on oil forever. Its not something that you can say oh hey i'm going to make an oil company and make my own oil. So scientists and engineers and all other sorts of consultants have been working on newer and more efficient ways to make energy. One thing that has caught my eye is the concept of nuclear fusion. With today's carbon pollution, nuclear fusion will help reduce carbon output. Nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun, can play a big part for our future to be Carbon free. Scientists and engineers around the globe are working with others to make fusion as a new source of clean energy. This is one of the most promising options to have future energy with is carbon free.



Fusion is the process that heats the sun and all other stars, where atomic nuclei collide together and release energy (in the form of neutrons, see diagram on the right.) To get energy from fusion, gas from a combination of types of hydrogen: deuterium and tritium, are heated to extreme temperatures (100 million degrees Celsius). To achieve this a method called "magnetic confinement" is used with controls the hot gas (plasma) with strong magnets. There a test product out and thats the Tokamak right above **^ ^ ^ ^ ^.
 * __How Nuclear Fusion Works__**

__How much CO2 is produces / Inhibited__** No Carbon Emissions


 * __Advantages to Fusion Power__**
 * No Carbon Emissions
 * Abundant Fuels: Deuterium can be extracted from water and tritium is produced from lithium, which is found in the earths crust. Full shall last for millions of years
 * Energy Efficiency: One Kg of fusion fuel can provide the same amount of energy as 10 million Kg of fossil fuels.
 * No radioactive waste: Plant components are only ones to produce radioactive waster with will be conventionally disposed of within 100 years.
 * Safety: Small amounts of fuel means large scale nuclear accident is not possible.
 * Reliable Power: The plants should be able to provide a baseload of large amounts of electricity, at costs that are already around today.

Many thought it wasnt possible. Scientists are getting closer every day, the JET Tokamak, has produced 16 MW of fusion power which shows that its prominent for the future. Deuterium and Tritium are considered to be the most efficient fuels, now the challenge is getting fusion to work on a power plant scale.
 * __If it doesnt make up a majority of the world's energy/fuel supply, Explain why.__**

There are three main projects that are trying to help Nuclear Fusion be in a larger scale. First is the ITER which is being built in souther France which will be a 500MW tokamak which is the size of a small power plant. Second is International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) which will test materials needed in a fusion power station, working in parrallel with ITER. Last is a demostration plant supplying fusion power to the grid. If successful will be used in todays future plants.

"It's estimated that within three years of steady neutron bombardment, a tokamak reactor's walls would have to be replaced, and several tons of highly radioactive material would have to be disposed of," says Celata. [|Celeta Quote]

Not many use it now because of it test phases. There are a few test groups throughout the world, one in moscow and in Europe. The problem with nuclear fusion is that of maintaining the actual fusion for a long period of time. People are going to started using it when its at a larger scale. Populations over the next century will in fact double, and the energy demand will triple. Therefore earths supply of oil and natural gas will probably run out within 100 years, and coal is enought for a few hundred years, but by using these earths supplies are being depleted. No deterium which is used in Nuclear Fusion is in the earth's oceans so there will be enough or should be enought fuel for the reactors for millions of years. Yes theres solar and renewable energy but they are geographically limited, they cant just be built anywhere and will need meet energy demands of populations. If Fusion is successful its pretty much guarenteeing unlimited energy and without being life threatening.
 * __Who uses this Technology?__**

North Korea lately claims that it has succeeded in making a nuclear fusion reaction. This is all we need, for them to be one step ahead. Critics and professors do not believe this so much. "Nuclear fusion reaction is not something that can be done so simply," said Hyeon Park, a physics professor at Postech science and technology university. Kune Y Suh, a nuclear expert at Seoul National University, poured scorn on the claim, saying: "Maybe if two suns show up in the sky tomorrow, then people could believe the claim." A South Korean official said the North could not afford the facilities necessary to create nuclear fusion. "It is not easy to make such facilities secretly." [|Critics comments]

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