Dec 10, 2015
The first plasma: the Wendelstein 7-X fusion device is now in operation
Posted by Julius Garcia in category: nuclear energy
Start of operation and first plasma in the Wendelstein 7-X fusion research device at IPP Greifswald.
Archive for the ‘nuclear energy’ category: Page 130
Dec 8, 2015
Why Algae Could Be the Greatest—and Trickiest—Fuel Source of All
Posted by Montie Adkins in categories: climatology, nuclear energy, sustainability
I recall when Venter made the first synthetic unique life form he said biofuels and algae that soaks up carbon dioxide would come out of it. Feels like it has been slow going but here is a why and why no item and please read the comments too as they are also informative.
From powering airplanes to replacing nuclear energy, algae has been touted as a green energy miracle. So if our waterways are already filled with the stuff, why isn’t it filling the world’s skies with biofueled planes? Algae is a tricky creature that presents a lot of challenges and misconceptions. Here’s why it’s difficult to harness—and why it could big a big payoff.
As we previously reported, algae is a fuel source that’s vastly more eco-friendly than oil, and will be crucial as we head into a future filled with climate change and depleting fossil fuels.
Continue reading “Why Algae Could Be the Greatest—and Trickiest—Fuel Source of All” »
Nov 30, 2015
NASA — The Fusion Driven Rocket: Nuclear Propulsion through Direct Conversion of Fusion Energy
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: nuclear energy, space
Nov 25, 2015
Stephen Hawking’s Legacy Could Be ‘Holy Grail’ Of Physics: Combining Gravity And Quantum Mechanics At Black Hole Horizons
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: cosmology, neuroscience, nuclear energy, particle physics, quantum physics, sustainability
Interesting…
To suggest that quantum mechanics and gravity are on the verge of being reconciled would be, to the physics world at least, as significant as the discover of splitting the atom. While splitting the atom might have led to the nuclear bomb, it also led to the technology of nuclear power, i.e. nuclear fission, which, if harnessed properly, creates a renewable and sustainable energy resource. The problem has always been that quantum mechanics — the rules that govern sub-atomic particles — and gravity, the rule that governs mass as we know it (the stuff we can touch and feel), do not agree with each other. The question has always been, what is it that “unifies” these two theories? Is quantum mechanics God playing dice, as Einstein suggested?
“God doesn’t play dice with the universe.”
Nov 16, 2015
This new laser could make things hotter than the centre of the Sun almost instantly
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: materials, nuclear energy, sustainability
Scientists have proposed a laser model that can could heat materials to temperatures hotter than the centre of the Sun in just 20 quadrillionths of a second. That’s 10 million degrees Celsius almost instantaneously.
The discovery brings us one step closer to the dream of achieving thermonuclear fusion energy — the production of clean, sustainable, and limitless energy using the same process the Sun uses to produce heat.
The challenge in harnessing the energy from thermonuclear fusion is that, as with any form of energy production, you need to get out more than you put in, and heating things to temperatures that rival the centre of the Sun is not easy. Current laser technology has failed to make the heating process efficient enough to make the process worthwhile, but a team from Imperial College London in the UK has come up with a model for a laser than can heat things about 100 times faster than the world’s most powerful fusion experiments.
Nov 7, 2015
World’s Largest Fusion Reactor is About to Switch On
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics
If “The Stellarator” sounds like an energy source of comic book legend to you, you’re not that far off. It’s the largest nuclear fusion reactor in the world, and it’s set to turn on later this month.
Housed at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator looks more like a psychotic giant’s art project than the future of energy. Especially when you compare it with the reactor’s symmetrical, donut-shaped cousin, the tokamak. But stellarators and tokamaks work according to similar principles: In both cases, coiled superconductors are used to create a powerful magnetic cage, which serves to contain a gas as it’s heated to the ungodly temperatures needed for hydrogen atoms to fuse.
Continue reading “World’s Largest Fusion Reactor is About to Switch On” »
Nov 3, 2015
Professor Kaku strikes again
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: military, mobile phones, nuclear energy, space, supercomputing
Nov 3, 2015
World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor
Posted by Josef Koch in categories: nuclear energy, supercomputing
This is the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor launching this month in Germany. And it was designed by a supercomputer…
Oct 30, 2015
Germany is about to start up a monster machine that could revolutionize the way we use energy
Posted by Sean Brazell in categories: nuclear energy, physics, singularity
This is the energy source that will power the Singularity.
And everything else, too.
Oct 28, 2015
‘Stellarator’ Reactor’s Strange Twisted Design Can Finally Make Fusion Power A Reality
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics
Researchers are getting ready to turn on the world’s biggest ‘Stellarator’ fusion reactor. Called Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), the reactor can uninterruptedly contain super-hot plasma for more than 30 minutes at a time. Scientists claim the rare design, which is contained in a giant lab in Greifswald, Germany, can finally help make fusion power a reality. Comprising super-hot plasma for long durations has been the Holy Grail for nuclear reactor designs, and can help researchers to deliver an inexhaustible source of power. Fusion reactors, for instance the W7-X, work by using two isotopes of hydrogen atoms — deuterium and tritium — and inserting that gas into a restraint vessel. Researcher then add energy that eliminates the electrons from their host atoms, creating what is described as an ion plasma, which discharges enormous amounts of energy.
