Apparently, open-field confinement has been devised and tested over the years.
Mirror-based systems and their variants lie in that category (see image below).
This is the alternative to joining the two open ends of the magnetic field together as in a tokamak torus.
The Novatron design, in addition to making the plasma encounter an increasingly stronger magnetic field as it moves axially away from the centre of the reactor, also makes it encounter an increasing magnetic field outwards everywhere in the confinement region. By this means, Novatron hope to achieve the 'Holy Grail' of stable plasma confinement.
I would like other exemples of Poincaré monsters.
The one mentioned makes me think of Grotendick works ( bridges in maths specialities ), a great contemporary french mathematician whose works is light years from my understanding.
The one mentioned makes me think of Grotendick works ( bridges in maths specialities ), a great contemporary french mathematician whose works is light years from my understanding.
I read that the solving of Fermat’s last theorem by Andrew Wiles, would not have been possible without Alexandre Grothendieck's work.
From his obituary:
"The core of his work concerned the connection between space and structure, and he set himself enormous research programmes intended to reveal the underlying connections between whole areas of mathematics. His ambition was to unite algebra and geometry, arithmetic and topology in the most general terms, and in so doing to bring together concepts of symmetry and geometry."
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/25/alexander-grothendieck
Must I do all the detective work around here?
Novatron looks as if it might work if taken up to 0.9 X c by a light sail, then ignited. Aka Larry Niven Mote in God's Eye.
Not at rest on Earth. With two synchrotrons aimed at the pinch point it might be able to fuse two nuclei but not at commercial volume of dozens or hundreds.
Not at rest on Earth. With two synchrotrons aimed at the pinch point it might be able to fuse two nuclei but not at commercial volume of dozens or hundreds.
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Thank you, indianajo, for the sci-fi reference!
In The Mote in God's Eye mankind has harnessed fusion power for interstellar travel.
The Alderson Drive permits faster-than-light travel by jumping from point to point along lines of constant thermonuclear flux.
This mode of travel often results in the spaceship emerging inside the photosphere of the destination star, where it is protected from destruction by the ship's energy absorbing Langston Field.
Who writes this stuff? Why Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle of course! 😀
There's an "unmemorable" sequel, The Gripping Hand AKA The Mote Around Murcheson's Eye.
In The Mote in God's Eye mankind has harnessed fusion power for interstellar travel.
The Alderson Drive permits faster-than-light travel by jumping from point to point along lines of constant thermonuclear flux.
This mode of travel often results in the spaceship emerging inside the photosphere of the destination star, where it is protected from destruction by the ship's energy absorbing Langston Field.
Who writes this stuff? Why Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle of course! 😀
There's an "unmemorable" sequel, The Gripping Hand AKA The Mote Around Murcheson's Eye.
The light sali + pinch fusion craft was IMHO the Crazy Eddie drive of the emigrant from inside the stellar cloud.
If you powered and timed two synchrotrons to bash beams of deuterium ions into each other in the novatron pinch field, I wonder if the energy budget could be positive. Enough collisions per second, you could perhaps power a city. The scheduling of individual ion collisions inside the pinch point is a matter of electronic control, something industry is very good at these days.
If you modulated the synchrotron beams at 60 hz you might be able to generate electric fields directly around the pinch point and avoid the whole boiling water steam turbines apparatus.
If you powered and timed two synchrotrons to bash beams of deuterium ions into each other in the novatron pinch field, I wonder if the energy budget could be positive. Enough collisions per second, you could perhaps power a city. The scheduling of individual ion collisions inside the pinch point is a matter of electronic control, something industry is very good at these days.
If you modulated the synchrotron beams at 60 hz you might be able to generate electric fields directly around the pinch point and avoid the whole boiling water steam turbines apparatus.
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I suppose we could do that "at a pinch" or "in a pinch" as it is said in American English. 🤓
One can dream.
A direct conversion of nuclear to electricity has no constraint to hope for 100% efficiency.
Whereas, converting through steam, turbine, alternator has a thermodynamic penalty that limits the efficiecy below 33%.
This why, there are projets to use heat as well as electricity from boiling water reactors. But who wants heating his house or flat from nuke ?
A direct conversion of nuclear to electricity has no constraint to hope for 100% efficiency.
Whereas, converting through steam, turbine, alternator has a thermodynamic penalty that limits the efficiecy below 33%.
This why, there are projets to use heat as well as electricity from boiling water reactors. But who wants heating his house or flat from nuke ?
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, about 43 nuclear reactors around the world - mostly in Eastern Europe and Russia - provide district heating in addition to generating electricity. https://www.powermag.com/district-heating-supply-from-nuclear-power-plants/
A well designed combined heat and power (CHP) system could boost a nuclear plant’s energy efficiency from about 33% to 80%.
Attachments
I didn't think that was correct. It relates to heat recovery 😉 as it does on multi cylinder steam engines
https://www.statista.com/statistics/548943/thermal-efficiency-gas-turbine-stations-uk/
Seems hydrogen or syngas may get higher.
Yes
35% for classic thermal plants using burning gas in a water boiler.
62% for "combined cycle power plant" that typically use gas turbines in two thermodynamic cycles.
35% for classic thermal plants using burning gas in a water boiler.
62% for "combined cycle power plant" that typically use gas turbines in two thermodynamic cycles.
Last summer, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment approved the commissioning of an experimental thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR) in Wuwei City situated on the outskirts of the Gobi Desert. https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/thorium-molten-salt-nuclear-reactor-china
It will be the first TMSR operating since 1969, when US researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory shut theirs down.
Thorium is a weakly radioactive metal that is a waste product of the rare-earth mining industry in China, and is therefore an attractive alternative to imported uranium.
I investigated TMSR reactors two years ago and found out the following scientific facts:
@benb may be interested to know that a thorium reactor eliminates the malicious step to modify fuel into a nuclear weapon since there is no need for uranium enrichment with this technology.
However, there is a long list of thorium reactor pros and cons as outlined here: https://vittana.org/16-big-thorium-...ith more abundance than uranium as an element.
It will be the first TMSR operating since 1969, when US researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory shut theirs down.
Thorium is a weakly radioactive metal that is a waste product of the rare-earth mining industry in China, and is therefore an attractive alternative to imported uranium.
I investigated TMSR reactors two years ago and found out the following scientific facts:
@benb may be interested to know that a thorium reactor eliminates the malicious step to modify fuel into a nuclear weapon since there is no need for uranium enrichment with this technology.
However, there is a long list of thorium reactor pros and cons as outlined here: https://vittana.org/16-big-thorium-...ith more abundance than uranium as an element.
Humans will not solve their energy demands as a species without some form of nuclear power in their energy mix.
All the energy need untill the invent of fire some 10k years ago were in fact fulfilled by nuclear energy.
I read that only 0.00000005% of the Sun's total energy output reaches the Earth's surface.
What we need to do is to gather a greater percentage of the energy emitted by the Sun.
I believe China has plans...
The UK government performed a feasibility study of space-based solar power (SBSP) and, just last summer, announced funding to develop the cutting-edge technology. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...space-based-solar-power-prepares-for-lift-off
Also last summer, we heard from Caltech that an orbiting SBSP prototype had demonstrated its ability to wirelessly transfer power from space to Earth for the first time. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/...onstrator-wirelessly-transmits-power-in-space
What we need to do is to gather a greater percentage of the energy emitted by the Sun.
I believe China has plans...
The UK government performed a feasibility study of space-based solar power (SBSP) and, just last summer, announced funding to develop the cutting-edge technology. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...space-based-solar-power-prepares-for-lift-off
Also last summer, we heard from Caltech that an orbiting SBSP prototype had demonstrated its ability to wirelessly transfer power from space to Earth for the first time. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/...onstrator-wirelessly-transmits-power-in-space
That ties in with one I looked at ages ago when use was mentioned. Far more plusses than minuses.
😉 The BBC has an interesting view - yes this link is BBC
https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/why-isnt-thorium-used-for-nuclear-power
I suspect there may another relating to efficiency type aspects.
So all I will need is a 30kw 240v 50hz sky satellite receiver disk on the roof of my house????? Actually we have more than one phase.