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Boris Horvat / AFP - Getty Images
A hardhat worker walks around the construction site for the ITER fusion experiment in Saint-Paul-les-Durance, France.
The standard joke about nuclear fusion is that it's the energy technology of the future, and always will be. Well, fusion is still an energy option for the future rather than the present, but small steps forward are being reported on several fronts. That even includes the long-ridiculed campaign for "cold fusion."
Efforts by the Italian-based Leonardo Corp. to harness low-energy nuclear reactions (the technology formerly known as cold fusion) have reawakened the dream of somehow producing surplus heat through unorthodox chemistry. Today, Pure Energy Systems News reported that Leonardo's Andrea Rossi signed an agreement with Texas-based National Instruments to build instrumentation for E-Cat cold-fusion reactors.
Will this venture actually pan out? The E-Cat reactors are so shrouded in secrecy and murky claims that it's hard to do a reality check, but most outside experts say that the concept just won't work.
Some observers are similarly pessimistic about the other avenues for fusion research. The basic physics of the reaction is well-accepted, of course. You can see the power generated when hydrogen atoms fuse into helium when you look at that big ball of gas in the sky, 93 million miles away, or when you watch footage of an H-bomb blast.
But no one has been able to achieve a self-sustaining, energy-producing fusion reaction in a controlled setting on Earth, even after more than a half-century of trying.
Laser ignition
Researchers had hoped to reach that big milestone, known as ignition, at the $3.5 billion National Ignition Facility by the end of 2010. But in last week's issue of Science, Steven Koonin, the Energy Department's under secretary for science, was quoted as saying "ignition is proving more elusive than hoped" and added that "some science discovery may be required" to make it a reality. (Coincidentally, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced this week that Koonin will be leaving his post.)
The big challenge is to tweak all the factors involved in NIF's super-laser-blaster system to maximize the energy directed on tiny pellets of fusion fuel, and minimize the loss of energy through tiny imperfections or interference. "We're at the end of the beginning," NIF's director, Edward Moses, told Science.
How much longer will it take? The new director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where NIF is headquartered, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was convinced the facility would attain ignition "in this fiscal year" — that is, by next October.
Magnetic confinement
If NIF hits that schedule, it'll be way ahead of the world's most expensive fusion experiment, the $20 billion ITER experimental project in France. ITER is taking the most conventional approach to creating a controlled fusion reaction, which involves magnetic containment of a super-hot plasma inside a doughnut-shaped device known as a tokamak. The European Union and six other nations, including the United States, have divvied up the work load with the aim of completing construction in 2017 and achieving "first plasma" in 2019.
Right now, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and US ITER are testing a fuel delivery system that would fire pellets of ultra-cold deuterium-tritium fuel into the plasma.
"When we send a frozen pellet into a high-temperature plasma, we sometimes call it a 'snowball in hell,'" Oak Ridge physicist David Rasmussen said in an ITER report on the tests at the Dill-D research tokamak in San Diego. "But temperature is really just the measure of the energy of the particles in the plasma. When the deuterium and tritium particles vaporize, ionize and are heated, they move very fast, colliding with enough energy to fuse."
The tricky part has to do with shaping the pellets just right to produce the desired reaction. When it comes to snowballs in hell, the devil is in the details.
The politics of ITER is just as tricky as the technology. Considering the economic problems that are afflicting the world, and Europe in particular, will there be funding to support the development timeline? Last month, one of the leaders of the European Parliament's Green bloc called ITER a "ticking budgetary time bomb."
Wiffle-Balls and other wonders
Smaller-scale fusion research efforts, meanwhile, are getting a lot of good press. For example, the Navy-funded experiments in inertial electrostatic confinement fusion, also called Polywell fusion, are continuing at EMC2 Fusion Development Corp. in New Mexico. The latest status report for the $7.9 million project says that the test reactor, known as a Wiffle-Ball because of its shape, "has generated over 500 high-power plasma shots."
"EMC2 is conducting tests on Wiffle-Ball plasma scaling law on plasma heating and confinement," the brief report reads.
The Polywell system is designed to accelerate positively charged ions inside a high-voltage cage, in such a way that they spark a fusion reaction. If enough of the ions fuse, the energy could exceed the amount put into the system.
In the past, leaders of the EMC2 team have told me that their aim is to build a 100-megawatt demonstration reactor. Nowadays, EMC2 is more close-mouthed about their progress, primarily because that's the way the Navy wants it. But the report about 500 high-energy plasma shots brought a positive response from the Talk-Polywell discussion board, which has been following EMC2's progress closely. "I'd be drunk by now if those were shots of whiskey," one commenter joked.
Privately backed efforts are moving ahead as well: Last month, Lawrenceville Plasma Physics reported reaching a record for neutron yield with its "Focus Fusion" direct-to-electric generator. And this week, Canada's General Fusion and its magnetized target fusion technology were featured in an NPR news package.
"I wouldn't say I'm 100 percent sure it's going to work," General Fusion's Michel Laberge told NPR. "That would be a lie. But I would put it at 60 percent chance that this is going to work. Now of course other people will give me a much smaller chance than that, but even at 10 percent chance of working, investors will still put money in, because this is big, man, this is making power for the whole planet. This is huge!"
Is it a huge opportunity, or a huge waste — especially considering that the energy technology of the future will have to compete with present-day technologies such as solar, wind, biofuel and nuclear fission? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.
Update for 3:40 p.m. ET Nov. 11: Some commenters have rightly pointed out that there are many other nuclear fusion and high-energy plasma initiatives under way, including the Z Machine, a huge X-ray generator at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico. The journal Science quotes Sandia researchers as saying the machine could be used to start testing the feasibility of pinch-driven fusion, but conducting a definitive test would require a far more powerful machine.
Science also notes that some researchers suspect NIF's indirect approach to laser-driven fusion, in which fuel pellets are placed inside a pulse-shaping cylinder known as a hohlraum, may not be as efficient as it needs to be. Research groups are investigating direct-drive laser fusion at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics in Rochester, N.Y., and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington.
More about fusion:
- Fusion goes forward from the fringe
- Levitating magnet coaxes nuclear fusion
- Out-of-this-world ideas win NASA funding
- Physics turns from fission to the future
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or following the Cosmic Log Google+ page. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
It's too late in the game to hope for new technologies which could save us, the breakdown crisis of industrial civilization due to peak oil and peak resources has already started in the year 2006 when the global peak in conventional oil extraction was reached. We are heading now for a full collapse as Hubbert's cliff starts around 2013-2015.
The net-energy gain of the remaining global fossil resources is too low to sustain industrial civilization and the economic growth we have become accustomed to. The industrial age has no future and its infinite growth paradigm has clearly failed. Moreover, our incessant desire for more over-consumption, energy and growth has ruined the very foundations of higher life on huge parts of the Earth. Just take a look on the conditions of marine life! We destroyed what gives us life and health. Only fools hope to continue what can't be sustained.
I wonder if any progress has been made using Geothermal Gradient. Astounding amounts of energy is available there and also the tides caused by the gravitational pull of the moon. There is a tremendous amount of clean energy all around us in these forms.
Fusion has been just a few years away for 50 years! Put this money into solar and wind and reactors . The OIL industry loves this fairy tale, because untill it happens oil keeps pumping and killing us. Standardize one reactor and build them, solar on every rooftop(no infrastructure needed there),wind turbines on hills and roofs, battery tech investments, geothermal. If and when the atom is controlled,then we build one. It won't take billions to figure out how it was done. Coal is not clean,Sorry, comercials on TV don't make it clean. What a laugh.
This is an outright lie:
"Will this venture actually pan out? The E-Cat reactors are so shrouded in secrecy and murky claims that it's hard to do a reality check, but most outside experts say that the concept just won't work."
Best of luck to all parties!
Thanks for the article Alan! Polywells are doing better than we'd dared hope in the days of Bussard's Tech Talk. Hopefully they'll get funding for the demo reactor.
I suspect Rossi has stumbled onto something. Either that, or it's the most brilliant scam in the sordid history of LENR.
Remember, though, the history of science is littered with concepts that could not be explained by the theories of the day -- often even after practical applications were common. It's possible Rossi may have found some exotic exception in the Coulomb barrier physics.
I readily admit that much of this story and discussion zooms right over my head. Still I cheer the efforts of those who look to bring us cleaner and greener energy sources. As a disabled veteran living on a fixed income, lower energy bills would be very welcome. ( A heartfelt 'Thank You' to all those who have served and those that continue to do so. A belated birthday 'OORAH!' to my fellow Marine brethren. ) Even with advancements in efficiencies, isn't large scale storage an even larger problem for alternative energy? Sun isn't always shining, nor the wind always blowing. Don't batteries represent serious environmental dangers too? Is fusion an 'on demand' energy source?
Yes, fusion AND fission are "on demand" energy sources. And, you are correct that storage of these solar/wind/etc.. energies AREa great concern. Many alternative energy system are ready to be deployed (look at the wind generators). BUT, there are too many competing interests in continuing the current methods of energy supply. Until IMMINENT profits can be realized, the "big money" is on using the current fossil fuels!
Excuse me, but aren't thorium based nuclear reactors a working proven technology? Thorium reactors have technical and economic problems, but these seem to be much more easily solvable compared to sustained fusion projects. China and India are both building prototypes. Why isn't the USA? If you're gambling, thorium looks like a better bet.
A tangent corollary that is not considered is possible melding of some of these fusion approaches into fission hybrids. Although getting more energy out than in is the holy grail of fusion energy, a point on the way is to take advantage of the neutrons produced from partially fused DD plasma as an enabler for secondary fission processes. What one could conceive of is a kind of cleaner and safer atomic energy reactor -- no chance of runaway meltdows and an answer to the waste problem -- it would be eliminated. cf fusion fission hybrid on wikipedia
After all, the pure electric car is a dream but the Prius is here today. Hybrids are smart and sexy!
"The energy technology of the future will have to compete with present-day technologies such as solar, wind, biofuel and nuclear fission," but not fossil? This is supposed to be scientific commentary, not eco-propaganda, but Boyle can't even bring himself to acknowledge fossil energy, instead listing a bunch of eco-nonsense (solar and wind) that can NEVER replace fossil because they are not reliable. They don't reduce the necessary installed base of fossil generation one iota, yet Boyle lists them and omits fossil. Ludicrous.
Alec?? Solar and Wind? are Not reliable? err tell me on what DAYS has the SUN failed to rise on you village?
Maybe Rossi has reawakened the dream but a lot of people don't believe him. The problem is that he has never allowed anyone to test his device independently. And the tests he has demonstrated with reporters and scientists have been too brief and the method of measuring the output power has been called into question by competent people who have visited Rossi and have seen his demonstration.
Rossi claims to have made and sold a semi-production powerplant which uses his method to produce a megawatt of power. It is supposed to run without refueling for six months, using only a small amount of specially modified nickel powder and hydrogen. The problem is that his client is anonymous and won't allow interviews. Another problem is that when Rossi showed the megawatt plant, it ran at half power while a huge diesel generator was connected to it and running the entire time of the demo which, again, was very brief.
Some people think Rossi is for real and other think he's scamming. He could resolve this easily by giving a unit to a university to test. But although he keeps promising to do that, so far (9+ months) he hasn't. It's very disappointing.
> But no one has been able to achieve a self-sustaining, energy-producing fusion reaction in a controlled setting on Earth, even after more than a half-century of trying.
It's not true: "On October 28, in Bologna, Italy, the first plant was tested and sold for to an undisclosed customer who was satisfied with the demonstration of 479 kilowatts of continuous power during a self-sustaining mode that ran for 5.5 hours before they turned it off."
What does the acronym ITER stand for (probably in French)? Amazingly, after 10 minutes of searching cites connected with the organization, I came up empty.
Never mind. ITER stand for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.
"On October 28, in Bologna, Italy, the first plant was tested and sold for to an undisclosed customer who was satisfied with the demonstration of 479 kilowatts of continuous power during a self-sustaining mode that ran for 5.5 hours before they turned it off."
That's sort of silly. None of the invited guests (scientists and reporters) were allowed to see any of the instruments. A huge diesel generator was connected to the device during the entire test. There was no interview with the customer and his representative did not answer questions. A five hour run does not exclude energy from sources other than nuclear (according to Nelson, a NASA scientist).
There is no way to know that there *is* a customer (other than Rossi himself) and there is no way to know that this device actually worked in any way. It's all "Rossi says".
Rossi could get an independent test but he refuses to. Why do you think that is? It would not reveal his secrets if it was done by a university -- universities handle confidential and classified research routinely.
the "Nickel-Hydrogen" LENR process needs to be investigated further as there is a long vetted & certified peer reveiwed history(since Panelli discovered it in 1989). maybe rossi does have "SOMETHING"
The paragraph of:
"Will this venture actually pan out? The E-Cat reactors are so shrouded in secrecy and murky claims that it's hard to do a reality check, but most outside experts say that the concept just won't work."
is troubling to an open scientific mind. What did most "outside experts" say/think about thermodynamics when Carnot released his work?
How about the "outside experts" that said we'd never get to the Moon because there'd be too much weight?
Let's keep an open, unjaded mind about any and everything new. Science is about the pursuit of knowledge, let's not let the assumption of intelligence interfere with that pursuit. Open minds see possibility in any and everything, closed minds are more about ego and stature.
I think Fusion is still way off and in the mean time Ill consider it just research. My thing is, why build a power station miles away from homes and businesses, when you can put the power station on top of your house? AC was created to solve the problem of DC not being able to travel long distance without losing energy. Solar panels and turbines make energy in DC and our house electronics use DC so why convert AC to DC? Why not just DC to DC? Maybe in the end Tesla was right but maybe so was Thomas Edison.
The Tokamak, has been around for over fifty years. This thing uses a very large amount of electric power to make it work. It never generated any usable power at all. This thing just jumped around like it was going to explode. Why don't we try to use something like carbide in water, it makes a flamable gas that will run a car engine. Put water in the gas tank and add pellets of carbide. Someone has said they have some pellets that will make a fuel when put in water. If so, where is it ?. We could use it now.
These fusion developments should actually be old news. There are over 5000 patents/inventions that are frozen due to supposed security concerns. This is a sham. Not all these ideas are bombs. These inventors are either paid off, or their inventions confiscated, or worse. This is disgusting. Don't you find it bizarre that we are still using 19th and early 20th century technology for power ?? Seriously, wires and poles dotting our horizon still today that were created 100 years ago?? Is this not the year 2011 ?? Solar and wind power is not the answer folks. Oil, gas, coal, atomic - these all cause damage and are not needed.