{"id":5931,"date":"2022-05-21T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2022-05-21T00:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=5931"},"modified":"2022-05-21T00:01:39","modified_gmt":"2022-05-21T00:01:39","slug":"tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/","title":{"rendered":"TAE and ITER: A Few Steps Closer to Fusion Power"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#iter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220318ff\/22020516-_123190761_jetinteriorwithsuperimposedplasma-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"JET\/UKAEA's photo: inside their JET reactor.\" align=\"right\"><\/a>One way or another, energy is in the headlines nearly every day.<\/p>\n<p>But I won&#8217;t be talking about the latest energy crisis, shortage or agreement.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, I&#8217;ll be looking at developments in fusion power from a few months \u2014 and a few days \u2014 ago.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#getting\">Getting Started: Fusion Basics<\/a><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#converting\">Converting Matter Into Energy: It&#8217;s Happening Every Second<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#one\">One Goal: Fusion Power \u2014 Two Approaches<\/a><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#iter\">ITER&#8217;s Tokamak: a Euro-British International Doughnut<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#international\">International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Origins: Very Briefly<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#meanwhile\">Meanwhile, in America<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#tae\">TAE&#8217;s &#8220;Norman:&#8221; a Different Approach<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#particle\">Particle Accelerators and Coilguns, Pumpkins and Doughnuts<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#doing\">&#8220;Doing Something Quite Different&#8230;.&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#fusion\">Fusion Power: Panacea, No; Possible and Practical, Yes<\/a><\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#benefits\">Benefits, Risks and a Grain of Salt<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#boris\">Boris Badenov&#8217;s Insight and the Greenwald Limit<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h3><a name=\"getting\"><\/a>Getting Started: Fusion Basics<\/h3>\n<h4><a name=\"converting\"><\/a>Converting Matter Into Energy: It&#8217;s Happening Every Second<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/no-more-sunspots\/#our\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20171117ff\/20171205-800px-Magnificent_CME_Erupts_on_the_Sun_-_August_31-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"NASA Goddard Space Flight Center\/Solar Dynamics Observatory's photo: a coronal mass ejection. (August 31, 2012)\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve been using fusion power since day one. In a sense.<\/p>\n<p>Every second, our sun fuses around 600,000,000 tons of hydrogen, making about 596,000,000 tons of helium.<\/p>\n<p>The missing four million tons of matter are converted into energy. A tiny fraction of it eventually reaches Earth, powering plants and giving us the occasional sunburn.<\/p>\n<p>Hydrogen fusion happens in our sun&#8217;s core because stuff there is very dense and very hot.<\/p>\n<p>Had I but world enough and time, this is where I&#8217;d start talking about plasma, nuclear binding energy, Arthur Eddington and Ivy Mike.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>But I don&#8217;t so I won&#8217;t. Not this week, at any rate.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, I&#8217;ll take a quick \u2014 for me \u2014 look at progress made by scientists, technicians and AI on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;d intended to talk about this back in February. Then I got sick, and that&#8217;s another topic.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3><a name=\"one\"><\/a>One Goal: Fusion Power \u2014 Two Approaches<\/h3>\n<h4><a name=\"iter\"><\/a>ITER&#8217;s Tokamak: a Euro-British International Doughnut<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60312633\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220318ff\/22020516-_123190761_jetinteriorwithsuperimposedplasma-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"JET\/UKAEA's photo: inside their JET reactor; left, during a five-second pulse; right, with normal lighting.\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From TAE Technologies, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;The walls of the JET reactor were changed to a material made from beryllium and tungsten&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60312633\">Major breakthrough on nuclear fusion energy<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nJonathan Amos, BBC News (February 9, 2022)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;European scientists say they have made a major breakthrough in their quest to develop practical nuclear fusion &#8211; the energy process that powers the stars.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The UK-based JET laboratory has smashed its own world record for the amount of energy it can extract by squeezing together two forms of hydrogen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If nuclear fusion can be successfully recreated on Earth it holds out the potential of virtually unlimited supplies of low-carbon, low-radiation energy&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The JET fusion reactor produced 50 megajoules of energy. Any word with &#8220;mega&#8221; in it sounds like a lot, but in this case it&#8217;s enough to boil the water in about 60 kettles.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, it&#8217;s a big deal. The experiments show that JET&#8217;s design actually works. And that&#8217;s good news, since another reactor, being built in France, uses the same basic design.<\/p>\n<p>JET has been developed, built and tested at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, as part of the ITER program.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h5><a name=\"international\"><\/a>International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Origins: Very Briefly<\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60312633\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220318ff\/20220516-_123190464_nuclear_fusion640x2-nc-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"BBC News' illustration of a nuclear fusion process.\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Ultimately, the process would be used to drive steam turbines to generate electricity&#8221;<br \/>\n(BBC News))<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;The ITER facility in southern France is supported by a consortium of world governments, including from EU member states, the US, China and Russia. It is expected to be the last step in proving nuclear fusion can become a reliable energy provider in the second half of this century.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Operating the power plants of the future based on fusion would produce no greenhouse gases and only very small amounts of short-lived radioactive waste&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60312633\">Jonathan Amos<\/a>, BBC News (February 9, 2022))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>ITER stands or stood for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. It&#8217;s also &#8220;the way&#8221; or &#8220;the path&#8221; in Latin.<\/p>\n<p>ITER&#8217;s roots go back to 1978, when the Soviet Union, European Atomic Energy Community, United States, and Japan started working together. The idea was to turn fusion power plants from a hypothetical pipe dream into a practical reality.<\/p>\n<p>Their cooperation stayed hypothetical until Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet Union&#8217;s Communist Party general secretary. Today&#8217;s ITER started on October 24, 2007.<\/p>\n<p>I have no idea whether this example of international cooperation will survive Putin&#8217;s efforts to disgrace Russia.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup> And that&#8217;s yet another topic.<\/p>\n<h4><a name=\"meanwhile\"><\/a>Meanwhile, in America<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60319398\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220318ff\/20220516-_123196798_tae-technologies-norman-head-on-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"TAE Technologies' photo: one end of their C2W device, 'Norman'.\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From TAE Technologies, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Meet TAE Technologies&#8217; C2W, &#8220;Norman.&#8221;)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60319398\">Fusion race kicked into high gear by smart tech<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPaul Rincon, BBC News (February 10, 2022)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;A US company is speeding up the path to practical fusion energy by using Google&#8217;s vast computing power.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By applying software that can improve on its own, TAE Technologies has cut down tasks that once took two months to just a few hours.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Google has lent the firm its expertise in &#8216;machine learning&#8217; in order to help accelerate the timeline for fusion.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nuclear fusion promises a plentiful supply of low-carbon energy, using the same process that powers the Sun&#8230;.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;ll admit to a bias. I like what I&#8217;ve read about TAE.<\/p>\n<p>First, but not most important, it&#8217;s an American company.<\/p>\n<p>I like seeing folks anywhere using their God-given brains to solve problems and help others. But I also like seeing Americans doing the same thing.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, TAE is \u2014 from one viewpoint \u2014 doing everything wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of setting up their own department of paperwork, liasoning with a Federal Bureau of Blotting Paper and Inertia, and employing thousands of clerks whose sole purpose is filling out forms in quadruplicate \u2014 they&#8217;re actually doing research.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t get me wrong. I think there&#8217;s a time and place for record-keeping and coordination.<\/p>\n<p>And I strongly suspect that doing almost nothing <strong>but<\/strong> coordinating and record-keeping is what put Japan in the IIMD&#8217;s digital competitiveness ranking&#8217;s 27th place.<\/p>\n<p>IIMD? There&#8217;s a whole mess of IIMDs out there. This one is the International Institute for Management Development. And seems that it calls itself IMD.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a business education school in Lausanne, Switzerland and Singapore. I hadn&#8217;t heard about it until this week.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, TAE&#8217;s practical approach reminds me of Lockheed&#8217;s Skunk Works,<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#4\">4<\/a><\/sup> and that&#8217;s yet again another topic.<\/p>\n<h5><a name=\"tae\"><\/a>TAE&#8217;s &#8220;Norman:&#8221; a Different Approach<\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60319398\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220318ff\/20220516-_123196802_tae-technologies-norman-rendering-external-view-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"TAE Technologies' illustration: an artist's rendering of C2W, 'Norman.'\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From TAE Technologies, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(&#8220;Norman,&#8221; an artist&#8217;s conception.)<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;The company&#8217;s 30m (100ft) -long fusion cylinder \u2014 called C2W &#8216;Norman&#8217; after TAE&#8217;s founder, physicist Norman Rostoker, who died in 2014 \u2014 represents a different approach to the doughnut-shaped &#8216;tokamak&#8217; to be used for the world&#8217;s biggest fusion experiment, the multi-billion-euro ITER project&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;[TAE CEO Dr Michl Binderbauer] says the results of the partnership with Google could shave a year from the company&#8217;s longer-term schedule, which envisages a commercial fusion test device by 2030&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60319398\">Paul Rincon<\/a>, BBC News (February 10, 2022))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;d like to talk about TAE&#8217;s approach to practical fusion power: but got &#8216;page not found&#8217; results when trying to access their research library.<\/p>\n<p>So I figure they&#8217;ve changed their site architecture since the citations were made.<\/p>\n<p>Or I could assume that it&#8217;s part of a vast conspiracy. Masterminded by Big Oil, the Pixie-Illuminati Cabal, or my favorite: shape-shifting space-alien lizard-men. Maybe I shouldn&#8217;t make jokes like that. Some folks take such nonsense seriously.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#5\">5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>Anyway, TAE&#8217;s &#8220;Norman&#8221; isn&#8217;t just like ITER&#8217;s tokamak design.<\/p>\n<p>Since I won&#8217;t have time this week to find TAE&#8217;s published research and study it, I&#8217;ll skip lightly over what I have found.<\/p>\n<h5><a name=\"particle\"><\/a>Particle Accelerators and Coilguns, Pumpkins and Doughnuts<\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ntrs.nasa.gov\/api\/citations\/20190000919\/downloads\/20190000919.pdf\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220318ff\/20220518-CoilGunAnimationFrame-NASA-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Frame from Steve Gribben's animation of a coil gun. Source: 'CRICKET \u2014 Closeout' (CRICKET: Cryogenic Reservoir Inventory by Cost-Effective Kinetically Enhanced Technology) Larry J. Paxton, Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Geospace and Earth Sciences. (2019)\" align=\"right\"><\/a>For starters, TAE&#8217;s &#8220;Norman&#8221; isn&#8217;t shaped like ITER&#8217;s tokamak reactors.<\/p>\n<p>A tokamak looks sort of like a pumpkin: one that was assembled by a cubist sculptor, with parts from a building supply store&#8217;s remainder sale. A pumpkin with a doughnut-shaped hole in the middle.<\/p>\n<p>The C2W &#8220;Norman&#8221; device \u2014 my oldest daughter came up with a shorter description than I would have.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Daughter:<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;Kinda reminds me of a Gauss rifle.<br \/>\n&#8220;I&#8217;d like to thank video games for my knowledge of this monstrosity&#8217;s existence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Me:<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;See, they&#8217;re educational!!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Daughter:<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;Granted, the one in Doom looks more like a fun-sized railgun, but, hey, it&#8217;s still cool&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(From a chat between me and my oldest daughter (May 15, 2022))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hardware in the Doom video games isn&#8217;t real. But much of it is based on stuff that is. Like Gauss rifles, which is another name for coilguns.<\/p>\n<p>A coilgun is a mass driver with one or more coils which act as electromagnets. It&#8217;s like a railgun, sort of, except that a railgun has rails and a coilgun doesn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>A Norwegian scientist patented the first coilgun in 1904, although development probably started decades earlier.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe words like coilgun, mass driver and railgun sound futuristic, but they&#8217;re all linear motors: tech that&#8217;s based on 19th century research.<\/p>\n<p>Despite being called \u2014 occasionally \u2014 Gauss rifles, a coilgun&#8217;s barrel isn&#8217;t rifled. &#8220;Gauss&#8221; harks back to Carl Friedrich Gauss. He&#8217;s the German mathematician who applied his talents to, among many other things, the study of magnetism.<\/p>\n<p>I could call a coilgun a particle accelerator, since its projectile is a &#8216;small localized object.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>But I won&#8217;t, since a particle accelerator&#8217;s particles are <strong>very<\/strong> small: on an atomic or subatomic scale.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#6\">6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<h5><a name=\"doing\"><\/a>&#8220;Doing Something Quite Different&#8230;.&#8221;<\/h5>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60312633\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220318ff\/20220519-_123197015_tae-technologies-control-room-employees-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"TAE Technologies' photo: control room.\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From TAE Technologies, via BBC News, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><br \/>\n(Fusion experiments at TAE Technologies: automated and supported by machine learning technology.)<\/p>\n<p>Starting a fusion reaction by firing high-energy particle beams into each other isn&#8217;t a new idea.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, did it in the early 1970s. They got good data out of their experiments, but I gather that most researchers decided fusion reactors using linear particle accelerators weren&#8217;t practical.<\/p>\n<p>They didn&#8217;t produce enough energy, compared to the energy they consumed.<\/p>\n<p>That was in the 1970s and 80s. And that&#8217;s why pretty much everyone except TAE Technologies is working with doughnut-shaped or spherical fusion reactors.<\/p>\n<p>Using machine learning, where software learns from experience, isn&#8217;t unique to TAE. Artificial intelligence helps run and study the JET reactor, for example.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m guessing that folks at TAE think they can develop a practical fusion power plant by 2030 because their AI is unusually smart. And because they&#8217;re looking at the task from a different angle. Several different angles, probably.<\/p>\n<p>For example:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;According to Prof Jeremy Chittenden, of Imperial College London, TAE is &#8216;doing something quite different to what everyone else is doing&#8217;. Rather than relying on the heat of the plasma to generate fast-moving particles for fusion, the device uses external particle beams which are fired into the hot gas, similar to what happens in a particle accelerator. &#8216;That&#8217;s your fusion source,&#8217; he explains&#8230;.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60319398\">Paul Rincon<\/a>, BBC News (February 10, 2022))<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>One more thing.<\/p>\n<p>The TAE reactor, if they&#8217;re successful, will run on deuterium and protium. That sounds exotic, but protium is fancy name for the most common form of hydrogen. Earth&#8217;s rivers, lakes and oceans are full of the stuff.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#7\">7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3><a name=\"fusion\"><\/a>Fusion Power: Panacea, No; Possible and Practical, Yes<\/h3>\n<h4><a name=\"benefits\"><\/a>Benefits, Risks and a Grain of Salt<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.llnl.gov\/news\/stepped-us-investment-fusion-energy\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20220318ff\/20220520-NIFFusionEnergy875x500px-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"National Ignition Facility's photo: high-energy laser beams converging. (2021)\"><\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\">(From NIH, via Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, used w\/o permission.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, once we have fusion power plants, our environmental worries are over and we&#8217;ll all live in green-energy paradise?<\/p>\n<p>Eh, yes and no.<\/p>\n<p>Reactors using deuterium-tritium fusion won&#8217;t give us fits nearly as much as old-school coal-fired and nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n<p>Tritium? That&#8217;s another hydrogen isotope: rare, radioactive and not particularly healthy to be around.<\/p>\n<p>And, although hypothetically a deuterium-tritium reactor would turn all the hydrogen into helium, tritium included: the reality is that some tritium won&#8217;t be fused and will get into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>But not much, not if the stuff is handled properly. That&#8217;s good news.<\/p>\n<p>Tritium combines with oxygen, forming water. Radioactive water.<\/p>\n<p>The not-so-good news is that some of that water could get into our bodies, staying there for a week or so before getting cycled out.<\/p>\n<p>Then there&#8217;s the tech that starts and maintains the fusion reaction: high-energy lasers or particle accelerators, powerful magnets.<\/p>\n<p>All of which control and direct a whole lot of energy. If everything works as it should, it&#8217;s not a problem; but if something goes wrong, all that energy is going to go somewhere. And that could be a problem. A big one.<\/p>\n<p>Basically, I see fusion power plants as a good idea; and certainly a better tradeoff between benefit and risk than those using coal or fission reactions.<\/p>\n<p>But I grew up in the Sixties, and remember when folks who should have known better finally realized that asbestos wasn&#8217;t a miracle mineral after all.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#8\">8<\/a><\/sup> So I take glowing claims that fusion power plants are nothing but good news \u2014 with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n<h5><a name=\"boris\"><\/a>Boris Badenov&#8217;s Insight and the Greenwald Limit<\/h5>\n<p>I&#8217;ve said it before. There&#8217;s no such thing as completely safe technology. Even something we&#8217;ve used for ages, like fire, can hurt us if we&#8217;re not careful.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s like Boris Badenov said, in the original Bullwinkle Show:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Natasha Fatale<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;Boris, dahlink, I thought this hiding place was foolproof.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Boris Badenov<\/strong><br \/>\n&#8220;Foolproof, yes. Idiot proof, no.&#8221;<br \/>\n(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0924382\/characters\/nm0293659\">Down to Earth or the Bullwinkle Bounce\/Fall Story or Adrift in the Lift<\/a>,&#8221; The Bullwinkle Show (1960) via IMDB.com<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Finally, I don&#8217;t know whether TAE will have their commercial fusion power test model ready by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>But I am sure we&#8217;re getting close to building practical fusion power plants. Much closer.<\/p>\n<p>Partly because of technology being developed, and partly because we&#8217;re learning more about how fusion works.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, for example, researchers developed a mathematical model that helps explain why the Greenwald limit exists. It&#8217;s \u2014 complicated.<\/p>\n<p>But it looks like tokamak reactors could handle almost almost double the plasma density that&#8217;s currently possible. That would mean nearly twice as much energy produced.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/#9\">9<\/a><\/sup> And that&#8217;s still another a topic, for another time.<\/p>\n<p>More, and less, related stuff:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/ukraine-russia-annexation-and-learning-from-history\/\">Ukraine, Russia, Annexation; and Learning from History<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(April 30, 2022)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/experiencing-covid-19-it-could-have-been-worse\/\">Experiencing COVID-19: It Could Have Been Worse<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(February 19, 2022)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/fukushima-cleanup-slow-progress\/\">Fukushima Cleanup: Slow Progress<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(April 16, 2019)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/power-and-climate\/\">Power and Climate<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(July 1, 2018)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/sane-environmentalism\/\">Sane Environmentalism<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\n(August 11, 2017)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> Nuclear fusion, a sketchy background:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arthur_Eddington\">Arthur Eddington<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ivy_Mike\">Ivy Mike<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuclear_binding_energy\">Nuclear binding energy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuclear_fusion\">Nuclear fusion<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sun\">Sun<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stellar_nucleosynthesis\">Stellar nucleosynthesis<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thermonuclear_fusion\">Thermonuclear fusion<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thermonuclear_weapon\">Thermonuclear weapon<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/cosmicopia.gsfc.nasa.gov\/qa_sun.html\">Ask Us: Sun<\/a><br \/>\nNASA&#8217;s Cosmicopia<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"2\"><\/a>2<\/sup> A place and a device:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Culham_Centre_for_Fusion_Energy\">Culham Centre for Fusion Energy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Joint_European_Torus\">Joint European Torus<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"3\"><\/a>3<\/sup> Highlights, and otherwise, from the last few decades:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2022_Russian_invasion_of_Ukraine\">2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/ITER\">ITER<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mega_Ampere_Spherical_Tokamak\">Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mikhail_Gorbachev\">Mikhail Gorbachev<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spherical_Tokamak_for_Energy_Production\">Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/T-15_(reactor)\">T-15 (reactor)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tokamak\">Tokamak<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"4\"><\/a>4<\/sup> Good news, not-so-good news:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Skunk_Works\">Skunk Works<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/TAE_Technologies\">TAE Technologies<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/restofworld.org\/2022\/japan-led-global-tech-innovation-fall-behind\/\">Japan once led global tech innovation. How did it fall so behind?<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nRoland Kelts, Ideas, Rest of World (May 12, 2022)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imd.org\/\">IMD<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imd.org\/about-imd\/who-we-are\/\">Who We Are<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"5\"><\/a>5<\/sup> Silliness and a technology company:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Conspiracy_theory\">Conspiracy theory<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/David_Icke\">David Icke<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_conspiracy_theories\">List of conspiracy theories<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reptilian_conspiracy_theory\">Reptilian conspiracy theory<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/tae.com\/\">TAE Technologies<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/tae.com\/tae-featured-at-first-ever-white-house-summit-on-commercial-fusion\/\">TAE featured at first-ever White House Summit on commercial fusion<\/a> (March 2022)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/tae.com\/tae-technologies-announces-appointment-of-chief-science-officer-to-international-union-of-pure-and-applied-physics\/\">TAE Technologies Announces Appointment of Chief Science Officer to International Union of Pure and Applied Physics<\/a> (March 2022)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/tae.com\/faq\/\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"6\"><\/a>6<\/sup> Science in the 19th century, technology in the 20th and 21st:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss\">Carl Friedrich Gauss<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Coilgun\">Coilgun<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kristian_Birkeland\">Kristian Birkeland<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Large_Horse\">The Large Horse<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Linear_motor\">Linear motor<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mass_driver\">Mass driver<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Particle\">Particle<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Particle_accelerator\">Particle accelerator<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Railgun\">Railgun<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60319398\">Fusion race kicked into high gear by smart tech<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPaul Rincon, BBC News (February 10, 2022)<\/li>\n<li>U.S. Navy\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/crsreports.congress.gov\/product\/pdf\/R\/R44175\/69\">Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Gun-Launched Guided Projectile: Background and Issues for Congress<\/a> (February 26, 2021)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2020\/May\/18\/2002302000\/-1\/-1\/1\/DON_BOP_2020MIDYEARUPDATE.PDF\">Business Operations Plan, Fiscal Years 2020-2022<\/a>, FY20 Mid-Year Update (May 18, 2000)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"7\"><\/a>7<\/sup> Atoms and AI:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/DeepMind\">DeepMind<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Deuterium\">Deuterium<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fusion_power\">Fusion power<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hydrogen_atom\">Hydrogen atom<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tritium\">Tritium<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.deepmind.com\/blog\/accelerating-fusion-science-through-learned-plasma-control\">Accelerating fusion science through learned plasma control<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nDeepMind (February 16, 2022)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/science-environment-60319398\">Fusion race kicked into high gear by smart tech<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nPaul Rincon, BBC News (February 10, 2022)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/digital.library.unt.edu\/ark:\/67531\/metadc872035\/\">Fusion cross sections and reactivities <\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nG. H. Miley, H. Towner, N. Ivich; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (June 17, 1974) via UNT Digital Library<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"8\"><\/a>8<\/sup> Learning, sometimes slowly:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Asbestos\">Asbestos<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Coal-fired_power_station\">Coal-fired power station<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Deuterium%E2%80%93tritium_fusion\">Deuterium-tritium fusion<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nuclear_power_plant\">Nuclear power plant<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.llnl.gov\/news\/stepped-us-investment-fusion-energy\">Stepped-up U.S. investment in fusion energy<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nBreanna Bishop, Charlie Osolin; News; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (March 12, 2021)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lasers.llnl.gov\/about\/what-is-nif\">What Is the National Ignition Facility?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/1542472\/\">Asbestos: the miracle mineral<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nP. Martin, The New Zealand Medical Journal (February 26, 1992) via NCBI, NIH<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><sup><a name=\"9\"><\/a>9<\/sup> A new and hopeful development:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2022-05-law-unchains-fusion-energy.html\">A new law unchains fusion energy<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nEcole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Phys.org (May 17, 2022)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www-internal.psfc.mit.edu\/~g\/papers\/aps01.pdf\">Density Limits in Toroidal Plasmas<\/a>&#8221;<br \/>\nMartin Greenwald, MIT &#8211; Plasma Science &amp; Fusion Center; Presented at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Long Beach, CA (October 29, 2001)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One way or another, energy is in the headlines nearly every day. But I won&#8217;t be talking about the latest energy crisis, shortage or agreement. Instead, I&#8217;ll be looking at developments in fusion power from a few months \u2014 and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/tae-and-iter-a-few-steps-closer-to-fusion-power\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"One goal: practical fusion power plants. Two approaches: tokamak and particle accelerators. Developments so far this year, and my view.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[27,114,22,28],"class_list":["post-5931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-news","tag-history","tag-physics","tag-science","tag-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-1xF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5931"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5933,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5931\/revisions\/5933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}