Of Interest archive

By Steven Cowley Director of the Culham Center for Fusion Energy   Until recently, fears of peak oil and dependence on Middle Eastern suppliers were the key factors shaping our energy policy, pushing governments to scramble for fossil fuel alternatives. Then came shale gas, tar sands, and other unconventional sources. Industry found ways to affordably extract fuel for decades to come. So many are now imagining an end to the energy crisis. That's a dangerous mistake.   First, even the most optimistic predictions leave our grandchildren exposed to an uncertain future. More immediately—and maybe more importantly—burning fossil fuels is the number one cause of global warming and its catastrophic consequences.   Read more at: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/12/opinion/fusion-nuclear-energy-future/

The American Security Project has released a major report on how the US can accelerate the development of fusion power: "Fusion Power — A 10 Year Plan to Energy Security."   Fusion power holds great potential to meet America's long-term energy security needs. Fusion is clean, safe, secure and abundant. The report details several critical steps the US can take that will lead to demonstration-level fusion power within a decade.   Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/12/5258004/fusion-power-a-10-year-plan-to.html#storylink=cpy

President Barack Obama has announced that he will nominate Dr. Ernest Moniz to head the US Department of Energy as Secretary.

Dr. Moniz served as Undersecretary of Energy from 1997 to 2001, overseeing all science and energy programs for DOE as well as the national laboratory system. He led a comprehensive review of the US nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship program, enhanced the science and technology of environmental cleanup, and was the DOE special negotiator for Russia initiatives, focusing on disposal of Soviet-era nuclear materials. Before that, Moniz was an Associate Director for Science in the Clinton White House from 1995 to 1997.

Read the full article at Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2013/03/09/will-secretary-moniz-put-energy-back-into-the-department-of-energy/

The United States would incur higher carbon dioxide emissions, a potentially steep rise in electricity prices and suffer a drop in gross domestic product if it were to abandon nuclear power.   That's the conclusion of two experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Their analytical essay is part of a package in the publication's new edition that presents arguments both for and against the continuation of nuclear.   Read more at: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/mit-experts-nuclear-exit-would…

An 18-metre-tall machine is attempting to harness nuclear fusion, the reaction that powers the Sun, to create electricity. "By the end of the century, 30 per cent of global energy could be generated by nuclear fusion," says Francesco Romanelli, leader of the team of scientists operating the Joint European Torus (JET). Based in Culham, Oxfordshire, JET is a collaborative project between 26 European countries and, at 16mW, it's the continent's largest fusion device.   In October 2012 it put its electricity-generating experiments on hold to test the suitability of a new structural material -- a combination of beryllium and tungsten -- that can withstand temperatures "up to 20 times hotter than the Sun," says Romanelli. Since this new material proved far more resilient than the current carbon walls, it will now be included in the design of all large-scale commercial fusion devices.   Read more here: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2013/03/start/fusion-hots-up

All the world's nuclear power plants generate electricity by splitting atoms in a process known as nuclear fission.

But now, Japan is taking a leading role in developing production of electricity by means of nuclear fusion, the process that powers stars and the Sun. In this nuclear reaction, atomic nuclei collide at very high speed and join to form a new type of atomic nucleus, emitting vast amounts of heat and energy.

Scientists have been working to harness nuclear fusion as a next-generation energy source.

This week, Japanese and European scientists began assembling an advanced nuclear fusion testing facility northeast of Tokyo in Naka, Ibaraki Prefecture. The site is on Japan's Pacific coast 143 kilometers (89 miles) south of Fukushima Daiichi.

Read more here

Tokamak emerged as a winter carnival hopeful when he made it three wins in a row at Eagle Farm.   He swept past the leaders at the 200m to beat I'llbetricked by two lengths with a half neck to Rock Home Late. Lockwood, who has recovered from a stint in hospital, has been in great form since he moved his team from Tamworth to Brisbane late last year.   He trained in Sydney for many years and also worked closely with Smith who is now one of Brisbane's leading trainers after also moving from New Zealand and then Sydney.   Lockwood has 10 horses in Brisbane but Tokamak is the one he has held high hopes for as a possible winter carnival horse.   Read more at: http://melegglestonracing.com/racing/view/4044/Tokamak+earns+shot+at+winter+carnival

Experts gathered in Sydney last month for Australia's first space mining conference cited the moon as the first and most viable step in off-planet resource extraction.

Dr. Jonathan Clarke, a geologist and president of the Mars Society who spoke at the two-day Off-Earth Mining Forum held at the University of NSW, said the moon was the next frontier for the mining industry and that water was likely to be the key resource up for grabs.

According to Clarke, lunar water will be a vital resource for future space missions and exploration, as in additional to its conventional roles as a washing and drinking fluid, it can also be used as a propellant for space vehicles and converted into oxygen for human respiration.

Read more at: http://designbuildsource.com.au/australias-first-space-mining-conference-sets-sights-on-the-moon

Organized by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and National Fusion Research Institute, the KSTAR Conference 2013 was held for two days from 26-27 February in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province. The conference focused on the development of nuclear fusion research at home and abroad and research performance and results from KSTAR.   Representatives from JET and PPPL were present at this fifth edition of the annual conference.   One of the main themes of the presentation sessions was how to control plasma Edge Localized Modes (ELMs), including world-class research results from the 2012 KSTAR campaign.   © Eui-hyung Kim NFRI Korea    

The potential benefits of successful development of an inertial confinement fusion-based energy technology justify investment in fusion energy research and development as part of the long-term US Energy R&D portfolio, says a new report from the National Research Council.

Although ignition of the fusion fuel has not yet been achieved, scientific and technological progress in inertial confinement fusion over the past decade has been substantial. Developing inertial fusion energy would require establishment of a national, coordinated, broad-based program, but achievement of ignition is a prerequisite.

Read more here.

Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion reactions. In this kind of reaction, two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus and in doing so, release a large amount of energy. In a more general sense, the term can also refer to the production of net usable power from a fusion source, similar to the usage of the term "steam power." Most design studies for fusion power plants involve using the fusion reactions to create heat, which is then used to operate a steam turbine, which drives generators to produce electricity. Except for the use of a thermonuclear heat source, this is similar to most coal, oil, and gas-fired power stations as well as fission-driven nuclear power stations.   Read more here

The United States should embark on a coordinated national research program into inertial confinement fusion—but only after researchers successfully demonstrate the scientific basis of the technology by creating a burning plasma in the laboratory, an expert panel assembled by the US National Academies recommends in a report released on 20 February.

That conclusion will pile the pressure on the National Ignition Facility (NIF), the $3.5 billion laser fusion project at the government's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. NIF, which was completed in 2009, was supposed to have achieved ignition—a burning plasma that produces at least as much energy as it consumes—by last year. Having missed that deadline, however, NIF is now awaiting a decision from Congress about its future funding. In the meantime, the US Department of Energy (DOE) asked the National Academies to explore what steps the United States should take to develop fusion power if NIF does eventually achieve ignition.

Read more at: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/02/future-us-fusion-research-should.html

Take a virtual tour through MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center thanks to a blog post on the American Physical Society site PhysicsCentral. The tour includes a stop at the Alcator C-Mod tokamak and the Levitated Dipole Experiment LDX.   Follow the tour at: http://www.physicscentral.com/buzz/blog/index.cfm?postid=3279348471264008278

The news from last week's E.U. budget summit is decidedly mixed for scientists. On Friday, leaders of the European Union's 27 member states agreed for the first time to make cuts to the union's overall long-term budget.   Leaders agreed to spend €960 billion for the 7 years from 2014 through 2020, a cut of 3.4% from the current spending period. In that light, the fact that the section of the budget called "competitiveness," which includes research spending, got a boost of roughly 37% doesn't look so bad.   Read more at: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/02/in-downsized-eu-budget-mixed-new.html

BOSTON — Researchers today more than ever focus their work on real-world problems, often times making their research relevant to the public locally, regionally and sometimes nationally. But engaging the public in their research can be a daunting task for researchers both professionally and personally.

Leah Gerber, an Arizona State University associate professor in the School of Life Sciences and a senior sustainability scientist in the School of Sustainability, has identified impediments to productive science communication and she shared her recommendations at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Gerber's talk, "Confronting Institutional Barriers to Science Communication and Policy," was presented on 16 February.

Read more at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/asu-agw021513.php

Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have launched a new effort to apply expertise in plasma to study and optimize the use of the hot, electrically charged gas as a tool for producing nanoparticles. This research aims to advance the understanding of plasma-based synthesis processes, and could lead to new methods for creating high-quality nanomaterials at relatively low cost.

Read more at: http://www.pppl.gov/news/2013/02/plasma-meets-nano-pppl-1

China could lead the way to a clean and boundless energy supply—if it can ever be made to work. Scientist Steven Cowley talks to online Chinese media Chinadialogue.

 

Read more at: http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/5699-Nuclear-fusion-an-answer-to-China-s-energy-problems-

MIT's tokamak, Alcator C-Mod, was faced with the threat of losing all of its federal funding throughout 2012. The loss of these funds, nearly the entire budget of C-Mod, would force the closure of the experiment, one of just three such devices in the U.S.   In September 2012, Congress passed a continuing resolution to provide six months of funding to C-Mod. The experiment is currently in "maintenance mode" rather than producing plasma, and scientists on the project are analyzing previously collected data. Members of the MIT Alcator C-Mod team hope to resume full operations once the FY 2013 budget is passed.
Read more here

Adopting what they call "the scorpion's strategy," scientists at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility and colleagues at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory have successfully applied state-of-the-art, real-time control of microwave power from gyrotrons, along with mirror aiming of the power, to catch and subdue "tearing modes" that break up the magnetic surfaces of the tokamak.

Tearing modes in tokamak plasmas can form magnetic islands that destroy toroidal symmetry and leak the energy. Researchers have found that the islands can be removed ("subdued") by applying precisely aligned electron cyclotron current driven by high-power microwave sources (gyrotrons), in much the same way that scorpions catch and subdue their prey, lying in ambush and waiting for the prey to approach and then seizing it with pincers.

Read more here

Two years ago, Remmelt Haange took up his duties as Deputy Director-General for the ITER Project Department. At ITER, the former Technical Director of the Wendelstein 7-X project faces familiar challenges, but also additional complexities.

Read more here