Polywell, ITER and the Helium Supply

If polywell fusion is developed, in what ways will the world change for better or worse? Discuss.

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TecnoImpacto
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So use a container made of graphene

Post by TecnoImpacto »

MSimon wrote:A 100 MW fusion plant will produce about .5 Kg of He a day. More than enough to meet the plant's needs if losses can be kept low.
So graphene may help, make the cotainer with it:

How Ultrathin 'Graphene' Carbon Sheets Keep Everything Inside

One of the most impressive properties is its mechanical strength, which is surprising since it is so thin.

Both experiments in the lab and simulations carried out in a computer have now shown that graphene sheets can sustain high pressure and act as ideal containers. Physicists in the theory group of Francois Peeters at the University of Antwerp in Belgium have performed studies of how graphene sheets can hold gases within a tiny balloon structure. If any atom could escape from a nanoscopic bag it would be helium. As one of the noble gases, helium is chemically inert and might be able to wiggle past any atomically-thin enclosure. But, according to Antwerp researcher Ortwin Leenaerts, helium is unable to escape.

An experiment at Cornell in the laboratory of Harold Craighead, with a sheet of graphene stretched across a tiny bottle holding gas, has shown that indeed the gas, even high-pressure gas, is kept in. (This work was published in the journal Nano Letters).


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 135938.htm

KitemanSA
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Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2008 3:05 pm
Location: OlyPen WA

Post by KitemanSA »

scareduck wrote:
Isochroma wrote:And it will only work if the plants can be filled with the required helium. Catch-22 anyone?
So the solution is to use superconductors with Tc > 77K.
As a starting point; the Tc of MgB2 is 39K. The boiling point of LH2 is 20K. Use MgB2 with LH2. And if we ever run out of H2, we will have a few other problems to worry about before a lack of cooling for fusion magnets!

And if we ever get a high power SC above 77K, great.

Corrected boiling point blunder! Chose different correction. Either is appropriate, thanks.:oops:
Last edited by KitemanSA on Mon Aug 09, 2010 11:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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