Search found 150 matches

by CharlesKramer
Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:18 pm
Forum: News
Topic: National Ignition Facility
Replies: 27
Views: 15949

Re: National Ignition Facility

If I understand correctly, the fact any fusion effort using any method achieved fusion gain must be encouraging for all the other efforts. So: it *can* be done (without, you know, a bomb). So cheers for stubbornly pursuing a goal! It's been a long road for NiF and its many laser/target predecessors ...
by CharlesKramer
Tue Dec 13, 2022 4:17 am
Forum: News
Topic: National Ignition Facility
Replies: 27
Views: 15949

Re: National Ignition Facility

> Check this paper

Excellent! Thx - CK
by CharlesKramer
Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:09 am
Forum: News
Topic: National Ignition Facility
Replies: 27
Views: 15949

Re: National Ignition Facility

No doubt everyone's seen this (below). I am no physicist, but.... -- isn't "chain reaction" misleading when used in connection with fusion? -- how could NiF even theoretically achieve ignition? It is a pulse device, kinda like an old school flash camera storing up a charge with capacitors, then FLAS...
by CharlesKramer
Sun Nov 06, 2022 2:25 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Rocketstar.nyc - "ConstantQ Thruster"
Replies: 1
Views: 980

Rocketstar.nyc - "ConstantQ Thruster"

Caught this with a Google "Alert." It has the right words -- fusion, boron, space, aneutronic.... "The ConstantQ Thruster uses a new type of fusion (non Tokamak) to generate propulsion." https://www.sbir.gov/node/2218177 Non-Tokamak... now I know everything. : ) Does "constant q" mean not a pulse de...
by CharlesKramer
Sun Jul 24, 2022 1:33 am
Forum: Implications
Topic: 2020 compared with 1920
Replies: 3
Views: 2721

2020 compared with 1920

I know this is silly... the kind of speculation that might be fun, but never scientific.... My theory is the 2020 decade may turn out to the most transformative since 1920 -- the decade that democratized automobiles (with the increasingly cheap Model T and highways built for them), the transformatio...
by CharlesKramer
Wed Jul 20, 2022 10:22 pm
Forum: News
Topic: ZAP Energy News
Replies: 133
Views: 26171

Re: ZAP Energy News

General Fusion. Is that the Canadian one with pistons focused around a sphere, with molten metal inside? That's my favorite -- from a visual steampunk point of view. As mvanwink5 also points out, most of the big players are planning to achieve at least break even or better with their machines curre...
by CharlesKramer
Tue Jul 19, 2022 5:20 pm
Forum: News
Topic: ZAP Energy News
Replies: 133
Views: 26171

Re: ZAP Energy News

https://www.geekwire.com/2022/more-funding-for-fusion-seattle-startup-lands-160m-and-reveals-technology-breakthrough/ More funding for fusion: Seattle startup lands $160M and reveals technology breakthrough June 22, 2022 UNNECESSARY COMMENT... I first got fascinated about fusion around 2007 when Bus...
by CharlesKramer
Tue Jul 19, 2022 5:06 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Small Tri Alpha news blurp
Replies: 250
Views: 255837

Re: Small Tri Alpha news blurp

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/us-nuclear-fusion-company-tae-raises-250-million-latest-round-2022-07-19/ TAE Technologies, a private company hoping to revolutionize electricity generation with nuclear fusion, said on Tuesday it has raised $250 million in its latest funding from new investors ...
by CharlesKramer
Mon Jun 20, 2022 3:11 am
Forum: News
Topic: Lauching a Fusion Reactor into Space?
Replies: 2
Views: 1372

Re: Lauching a Fusion Reactor into Space?

> https://spectrum.ieee.org/can-a-seattle-start-up-be-the-first-to-launch-a-fusion-reactor-into-space Too cool! Here's another article about Avalanche: https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/nuclear/this-tiny-fusion-reactor-is-made-out-of-commercially-available-parts Is the Avalanche device another st...
by CharlesKramer
Mon Jun 20, 2022 2:40 am
Forum: News
Topic: Sabine Hossenfelder on nuclear fusion
Replies: 7
Views: 2710

Re: Sabine Hossenfelder on nuclear fusion

Helion already has demonstrated the direct conversion of fusion power to electric power at 95% efficiency, and further, is targeting 2024 for net conversion to electric power That's cheerful! Thanks. Do I read correctly that Helion's plans are based on Helium-3 fuel? I recall the renewed interest i...
by CharlesKramer
Sun Jun 19, 2022 7:42 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Sabine Hossenfelder on nuclear fusion
Replies: 7
Views: 2710

Sabine Hossenfelder on nuclear fusion

Sabine Hossenfelder on nuclear fusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ4W1g-6JiY She supports fusion, but believes it is much further away than popularly believed. Her main point is "Q" (breakeven) as popularly reported compares energy input to energy output when what matters is the total: not just...
by CharlesKramer
Tue Mar 29, 2016 7:47 am
Forum: General
Topic: Question about Fukushima in 2016
Replies: 57
Views: 68017

Re: Question about Fukushima in 2016

Corium slag must make a complicated chemical soup. It starts with fuel and cladding at thousands of degrees... then add steel containment... then cement. In Fukushima add some salt (ocean) water. In Chernobyl add sand. And then the decay chain of the fuel. Then all that mess transmuting from neutron...
by CharlesKramer
Mon Mar 28, 2016 12:01 am
Forum: General
Topic: Question about Fukushima in 2016
Replies: 57
Views: 68017

Re: Question about Fukushima in 2016

where do you think all the neutron absobing material from the control rod went? Also, how much concrete does the coreum have to burough through and what happens to all that material? Are you saying the China Syndrome is baloney because, in a worst case meltdown, the melting stops because: -- molten...
by CharlesKramer
Fri Mar 25, 2016 5:41 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Question about Fukushima in 2016
Replies: 57
Views: 68017

Re: Question about Fukushima in 2016

And what makes fission scary: no off switch! False. Fission definately DOES have an off switch Definitely has an off switch... meaning control rods? My point is that does not apply to tons of corium slag which will remain hot accordingly to the rules of the decay chain (at at Fukushima so hot it ca...
by CharlesKramer
Fri Mar 25, 2016 5:30 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Question about Fukushima in 2016
Replies: 57
Views: 68017

Re: Question about Fukushima in 2016

Wow, this discussion is great! A good antidote to the near silience about this is in the news. Thanks to you and all. There is no implication of recritiality So... no mystery why I don't see it discussed anywhere. FEAR sells and they sell a lot of it I understand that. Whenever anything dies (starfi...