Chris+Flynn

=NUCLEAR FUSION = = = = BY CHRIS FLYNN AND KYLE ROWE = = = = =

One of the biggest problems in our world today is the fact that the worlds fossil fuels that everyone depends on for day to day life are being used up at an extremely rapid rate. To make matter worse there are no new energy resources that can completely replace them when they run out. Scientists are right now working tirelessly to find a solution to this rising problem that is only going to get worse over time. The up side to this growing problem is the fact that the research and production of these new energy resources will create new jobs.

=Driving Force of the Problem= The Driving force behind the energy problem is the growing industrialization of the world. The United States uses approximately 20,000,000 barrels of oil a day, imagine a country like China with 1.3 billion people, India with 1.18 billion people and they are no were near as industrialized the United States. But they are starting to get more and industrialized, which is going cause the demand of all fossil fuels to sky rocket. So that predicted time of 40 years left before the fossil fuels run out could be cut in half if both China and India continue to grow industrially, that 40 years could turn into 20-25 very quickly as both China and India continues to become more and modernized. So were do we find enough energy to feed the energy needs of the billions of people in the world. I truly believe that our future energy needs can be met with the application Nuclear Fusion on a larger scale.

=Nuclear Fusion what is it?= Nuclear fusion is the exact same process that the sun and all of the stars in the universe use to power themselves for billions and billions of years. Nuclear fusion is what is used by both the United States, Russia and other countries use to power there nuclear weapon arsenals. Unfortunately this awesome power has not been harnessed enough to effectively be used as a viable energy source. Nuclear fusion is like hitting a bottle full of nitroglycerin and hitting it with a hammer you only have to put little bit of energy in but you a ton make the problem is harnessing that energy being released.

media type="youtube" key="sSi-zSeS0_Y?fs=1" height="385" width="640" align="center"

The way nuclear fusion works is two nuclei are forced together by extremely high pressure, when this pressure is strong enough to over come the repulsive forces of the nuclei they fuse together and release massive amount of extra energy and also release a fast moving neutron. This energy is extra because mass of the new nucleus is less than the sum of the masses of the original two nuclei. That extra mass is converted into energy as proved by Albert Einstein's famous equation E=MC^2. The most common nuclei used by both scientists and the sun are two isotopes of Hydrogen called Deuterium and Tritium.



Deuterium and Tritium are both easily extracted from the earth. Deuterium is readily available in sea water were 1 in 6500 hydrogen atoms are Deuterium. Tritium in turn can be easily procured from Lithium which is readily available in the earths crust. In a Fusion reaction the Deuterium and Tritium atoms are superheated into plasma wear they are stripped of their neutrons and then collide with each other form only 3 byproducts, an energetic neutron, a helium nucleus, and whole lot of energy. Scientists believe that nuclear fusion is one billion more times efficient than today's nuclear fission reactors, and one trillion more efficient than fossil fuels because with an output energy gain ratio of 450 times that of any energy source in use today.[]



** Advantages of Nuclear Fusion **
 * There is **__NO CO2 PRODUCED!!!__**
 * The reactor cannot melt down.
 * There are no radioactive martial used
 * There are no radioactive byproducts
 * A thimbleful of liquid heavy-hydrogen equals 20 tons of coal
 * One pick-up truck full of deuterium equals 10 million barrels of oil & 30 tons of Uranium

=Disadvantages of Nuclear Fusion= The main disadvantage of Nuclear Fusion is the fact that in order to attain fusion scientists must replicate the conditions of the sun core, where temperatures reach in access of 40 million degrees centigrade. It is only there where the Deuterium and Tritium atoms are stripped of their neutrons and turn into plasma the rare fourth state of matter. Its only in this state that the nuclei can overcome their repulsive forces and complete the fusion reaction. Presently scientists are working on two very different ways to attain this they are Magnetic Confinement and Inertial Confinement.

Magnetic Confinement
Magnetic Confinement relies powerful magnetic fields to contain the plasma. where it collides with the other nuclei and the fusion occurs. This method though by many scientists to be the most promising way of achieving a sustained fusion reaction.



Inertial Confinement
Inertial Confinement uses an intense laser to implode a pellet of Deuterium and Tritium. When the powerful laser its the Deuterium/Tritium pellet the outside is superheated and becomes a plasma and then causes the pellet to implode on its self and the pressures at the middle of the pellet cause the temperature in the middle to hit 100 million degrees where the fusion takes place. Unfortunately laser technology is to expensive to produce a laser that could create a sustained reaction.



=Solving the worlds energy problem= Nuclear Fusion when it is harnessed will completely solve the worlds energy problem. It will provide clean, cheap, and almost limitless energy for the world. According to the worlds scientists Nuclear fusion will be one billion times more efficient than current nuclear fission plants and almost one trillions times more efficient the current fossil fuel plants. That is because all the fuel that is required to have a fusion reaction is readily available in massive quantities here on earth. For example Deuterium is easily extracted from sea water and since about 70 percent of the world is covered in sea water I don't think we are going to have to worry about running out of Deuterium. Tritium can be easily taken from and reaction with neutron activated Lithium from a nuclear reactor with reasonably low energy. Lithium is found in abundance in the earths crust. So with two reactants that can be so easily and cheaply extracted it will cause the worlds energy problem to all but disappear.

=Who is leading the pack to for nuclear fusion?= The ITER or International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is project to build the worlds largest and most advanced nuclear fusion reactor. It in Cadarache in the south of France. It a combined effort between the United States, Russia, Japan, European Union, Korea, China, and India.

= media type="youtube" key="vmf7ohVqSlA?fs=1" height="385" width="640" align="center"

= =What the Experts say.= Many scientists around the world are beginning to endorse nuclear fusion research because of its vast potential. Here are what a few experts have said:

 "The results of all of these experiments are extremely encouraging . They give us great confidence that we will be able to achieve ignition conditions in deuterium-tritium fusion targets," NIF Director Ed Moses  "Fusion is Important beacause it something that is going to give us a really really long term sustainable energy source" Huw Leggate, Joint European Torus Facility.

"One bath tub full of water would provide enough energy through fusion to supply one person with all there energy needs... for 30 years" Huw Leggate, Joint European Torus Facility.

=What would it take to make Fusion a reality. = More than any thing it is going to take time. Scientists say it will be approximately 30 years before the first commercial fusion power plant is up and running. That is because new technologies need to developed to in order to with stand the massive temperatures generated.



After learning
What we would change after learning about nuclear fusion is nothing. We firmly believe that Scientists are on the right path to creating a nearly limitless and clean energy resource and it is probably in the not so distant future that we will see the first of many commercial nuclear fusion plants going on line and generating clean and cheap energy.