The latest developments in fusion energy - with the UKAEA
Hear about the latest research in the leading-edge field of fusion energy.
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00:00 Introduction to fusion energy
04:27 The latest research from the Joint European Torus (JET)
19:45 The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Organisation
39:48 Inertial fusion energy at the National Ignition Facility (NIF)
This talk was recorded at the Ri on 2 February 2024, in partnership with the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
Fernanda Rimini, a trailblazer from the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the Joint European Torus (JET), the world's most advanced magnetic confinement fusion experiment. Fernanda illuminates the remarkable strides made in plasma physics and fusion energy generation.
Pietro Barabschi, the Director of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) Organisation, takes you on a journey through the heart of this monumental international fusion project, and considers the scientific challenges that come with replicating the fusion processes of our sun here on Earth.
Tammy Ma, a plasma physicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), unveils the astounding ongoing experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) which are bringing us closer to the dream of virtually limitless, clean energy.
The talk was compered by Melanie Windridge from Fusion Energy Insights.
If you liked this talk, check out our other lectures on fusion energy:
- Could nuclear fusion energy power the future? • Could nuclear fusion e...
- The need for fusion • The need for fusion - ...
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If you liked this talk, check out our other lectures on fusion energy: - Could nuclear fusion energy power the future? kzhead.info/sun/rb2jmbKicHdqm3A/bejne.html - The need for fusion kzhead.info/sun/hsORipGmn5F4mGw/bejne.html
How does the Hydrogen in the Sun remain separated from Helium and gradual and controlled Fusion occur? Does anyone know?
Where has the desk gone? The famous desk..
That what they said about interphenomeners, but just look at what came to be in gravitational interstellar sensory gathering.
@@savage22bolt32 That desk keeps on vanishing and returning. Don't worry, it'll be back. There must be a hole in the floor or something.
@@nathanroberson you are paying attention!
I visited JET a long time ago and got to go into the reactor building and see a segment of the torus that had been removed for maintenance and upgrades. Amazing place. The machine itself is hard to describe as it looks like nothing else you've seen.
There are still many steps that have to be taken, and problems solved, to get to practical fusion power. Many talk about getting to higher Q values, but even a Q value of 1000 would not matter if the reactor costs too much to build, or keeps having to be re-built because the plasma destroys the materials. If we get to reactors that work, at all, in the next 10 years, look to many, many more years before the technology matures to be both reliable and economical against other energy sources that exist now, and are expected to become ever lower cost in the next 20 years.
On inertial fusion, one thing needs to be made clear again: so far, the energy input of the entire machine is still much higher than the fusion yield, only the energy that arrives directly at the pellet to be ignited is lower than the yield! Therefore, the energy yield must be at least 15 times as high as the energy that reaches the pellet. Also, tritium must still be used in inertial fusion, which must first be bred from lithium in a nuclear reactor and is extremely expensive. Per ignition, and 1-10 per second are needed for operation, costs of 100K to 1M dollars must currently be expected. A stellarator will certainly run without tritium as fuel, possibly also without deuterium.
It would be interesting to know what reactions will replace tritium and possible deuterium.
I fully understand that the scientists in this field are painting a rosy picture or leave out some details that would spark questions. If they were completely transparent, funding would drop sharply as investment these days is focused on short term success. In reality, actually producing meaningful amounts of energy via fusion is a lot closer to the year 2100 than it is to 2050. It’s a fascinating field, absolutely, but there’s A LOT of details that still have to be gotten right before we reach the big goal.
Anyone that claims they know when it will be feasible is a fool. The "20 year" scientists, the hype sellers, and you doing it here. You dont have the slightest idea when break throughs will happen in order to put the pieces together, but it seems like its coming together.
Virtually all nuclear power advocates along with the vast majority of the Earth's 8.0+ billion other humans have become masterful in excluding the following warnings from their consciousness. I urge readers to search for the following article titles. They often do this to avoid becoming depressed. This 'Titanic' is about to hit the iceberg but we keep hoping. IPCC report: ‘now or never’ if world is to stave off climate disaster (TheGuardian) UN chief: World has less than 2 years to avoid 'runaway climate change' (TheHill) * This statement was made 5 years ago.
Great to know the latest work that is going on at JET, ITER and NIF. The FRC approach that Helion Energy in the US is pursuing with its 7th generation Polaris reactor is also very exciting.
No it isn’t, Helion is a joke
@@jb76489 ....they have results
7th generation? What happened to the previous 6 generations? How much electricity did they generate? Remember to put a minus sign in front of your answer!
Who else is feeling charged up about the latest breakthroughs in fusion energy? The UKAEA is turning science fiction into reality!
The big problem for nuclear fusion to become the power source of the future is rarely mentioned. This is the fact that the tritium needed for the operation of a fusion reactor has to be produced by the reactor itself. It is possible to breed tritium in a fusion reactor but producing enough of it will probably turn out to be impossible. The reason for this is that each fusion reactor produces one neutron that could in principle be used to create one tritium atom. But inevitable neutron losses and losses in extracting the tritium will cause the yield to be far less than hundred procent. The only hope to make the losses up is to utilize nuclear reactions that produce more neutrons than they consume. Nobody knows if this will be a solution to the problem.
well, no, there are other forms of fuel, both neutronic and aneutronic, each with it's own cross section issues and efficiencies and so forth, but of course i'm sure you know all that. And it's spelt "percent" not "procent"....but i'm sure you knew that too........
@@ashleyobrien4937 Yes, there are other possible fusion reactions but deuterium-tritium is the lowest hanging fruit. Still, you will need a rather high ladder to reach it. For other reactions I don't think that even the tallest skylift would suffice. That's right, "procent" is Swedish. I was let down by the spelling checker.
Wow.... I'm old enough to remember back in the sixties when this was virtually a dream.
Still a dream, still _just_ 20 years away.
@@lenwhatever4187 200,000 years waiting for flight. Industrial revolution in 1760s. 140 years later, we fly. 66 years later, we were on the moon. Technology’s not the issue; only the will to make it happen. I think we can achieve fusion. (We certainly would have had it by now if it received proper funding)
@@evilpanky We have "achieved fusion". That is not the problem.... Getting more out of it than we put in with some amount of control is the roadblock.... always has been.... might always be. Funding he says... it's making boat ownership look cheap already. (boat = a hole in the water one throws money into) Fusion = a hole in the universe one throws money into. The current technology being tried may just not be the right way... lasers and magnets both take too much power. Maybe some smart kid with a totally new idea will make this work one day
@@lenwhatever4187 I reckon it can totally be done. JET achieved Q = 0.7, ITER (while not commercial or net electric) will achieve ignition (Q > 5 or so). I'm certain ARC and STEP will achieve net electric. I'm also hoping for positive results from the Inertial Confinement stuff. We've achieved amazing results with such shoestring budgets.
@@lenwhatever4187 Also, when people say "achieve fusion", they generally mean commercially-relevant fusion. Fusion's been done in labs since the 1930's.
Thank you - great talk.
If they can get that projectile and energy food that ignites then we could have a machine use fluidlike dynamics to predict the flow and maybe use multiple explosions in an order in dynamics and instead of cancel waves, build bigger energy waves. Like when you push a swing while it’s swinging to give it more energy or slow it down. A series of explosions detonated by projectile and then using the dynamics to carry the chain reaction or something. Magnetic fields can help guide and circulate the flow maybe.
The only thing about Fusion Reactors is true - You learn it from Total Annihilations - they go Ka-Boom. Safety Fist. Including meltdown and critical scenarios. Lean from Stalker, I mean Call of Pripyat, I mean 1986 catastrofe.
We need a new mechanisim to convert heat to electricity. Progess towards this goal is still amazing. Forever 20 years away ... is closer.
That would be amazing! We’re still making water hot! You should read up on “aneutronic fusion” and “direct energy conversion”; I think you’ll be pleased!
@@evilpanky Thank you!
Looking forward to watching to see if there is serious merit, requiring a discussion on rhe quantum mechanics of fusion, referencing the low power requirements of the quantum fusion experiments.
are you kidding ? "serious merit" ??? Do you seriously think that nations and multinationals would spend billions on a "maybe" ? is it not likely that they just MIGHT just have experts who know a bit more about it you ? or I ?...come on man....
Great video, thank you for the speakers.
Great video But i cannot imagine how to build economical reactor on base of neutronic DT reaction. Today we only can state that if Tokamaks will be big enough, they will produce net power. No doubt. In ITER 840 m3 plasma is projected to produce 500 MW fusion powe for 3600 seconds. Then next shot. In about one year I am sure the condition of first wall and other critical components facing to plasma should be revised. If maintenance neede plasma facing components will be strongly radioactive and need remote handling. There 18 toroidal magnets weighing 310 ton each. Vacuum chamber weighs as far as i remember about 5000 ton. I quote these numbers only to show how costly maintenance will be. New creative idia is needed allowing us to go to aneutronic fusion. But ITER is projected for plasma temperature 15 keV. DHe3 reaction needs on order of magnitude higher temperature. And even bigger reactor or to invent method to run reactors at higher value of beta (ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure) 20 years is unreal
I know this is all groundbreaking science. All of these will provide us with valuable information. It does seem typical that the American version of fusion is basically bigger explosions with lasers.
That is the mission statement of the NIF, it is to do research in understanding how fusion works in thermo nuclear weapons sometimes called hydrogen bombs. It has only recently been hijacked into a mission that will produce hyperthetical power plants. BTW, all of the energy that comes from so called hydrogen fusion bombs, only a small part is really from fusion. It is more acurate to describe them as Fission/Fusion/Fission weapons since most of the energy comes from the uranium blanket. Teller describes them as Super A bombs, fusion makes fission go much better.
@@johnjakson444 It reminds me of Von Neumann working on the hydrogen bomb. Everyone wanted computers for the hydrogen bomb, and he wanted the hydrogen bomb for computers. Hijacking a weapons programme for the public good sounds alright to me!
The Amerucan version of everything is bigger explosions with lasers. Levity aside, yeah there are multiple ways to create the fusion. Magnetic conduction which is generally most talked about, the laser firing causing fusion in a billionth of a second is another. This industry is fascinating and exciting.
Why do you think you felt the need to say something so dumb Jeff?
@jb76489 Hardly dumb. Factually correct. It was funny because it is true. If you feel the need to correct me where I'm wrong please do so.
If we can master fusion like we did combustion, then imagine starting your car with a fusion powered engine. It would probably sound like a cyber startup due to the fact there’s no macro explosions happening in the engine. The fuel requirements would be dependable entirely on the rich people. But for the most part we know that fusion would last a long time. Imagine having to fill your car up once a month rather than every week or 3 days. Mechanics would probably get paid hella because fixing a fusion engine in theory would be pricey af but manageable for those with low income. It really just depends on how the rich guide our civilization. Are they just tryna get richer for the betterment of themselves via war funds, or are they focused on revolutionary enhancements to daily living? That’s really what’s holding us back is our choices as a whole. I think leaders who are businessmen first, would make the necessary decisions for economic purposes. People who share opinions from both factions
Perhaps the IR from condensing steam could be another source of energy to feed back into the system
Great presentation and an encouraging perspective. It occurred to me however that wouldn't it be goodie the energy released could be converted directly to electrical energy without having to suffer the inefficiency of the heat/steam/rotational cycle. Is there any research in this direction (I'm imagining of some kind of plasma electric process analogous to the photoelectric effect) or is this too far fetched?
Yes, there is. It's very promising.
There is one which essentially uses the magnetic field generated by the fusion as pressure against the magnetic field which contains the fusion, and generates the power using the pressure like some kind of magnetic engine. I believe Sabine Hossenfelder has a video on it specifically, though I forget its name.
Great talk with really incredible speakers! They did an amazing job breaking down the achievements and what they are working on so even non technical people can grasp what fusion is, and why it's important for the future of humanity.
47:14 how much energy was used to make the pellet?
How much energy was used to power the lasers? She conveniently "forgot" to mention that one.
@@Sekir80 She didn't "forget" that. At 52:57, she stated that they'd need a gain of 15-16 to have a self-sustaining plant. They already increased the gain by a factor of 1000 so 7 or 8 times more is maybe achievable in the foreseeable time, but on top of that they'll have to come up with a way to reload the machine with targets for a firing rate of 10 Hz, about the rate of fire of a Maxim gun. From my layman perspective, it seems like inertial confinement has a lot more challenges to overcome to go from experimental to industrial when compared to toroidal magnetic confinement. On the one slide, they talked about bringing down the cost of a pellet down to 30 cents. A typical coal fired power plant of about 750 MW consumes about $330 in coal in 1/10 of a second. I don't think the energy that goes into making the targets is going to be the big issue here, when these things are produced at scale.
@@Sekir80 she mentioned that & it's lower vs the output, thus ignition -more out than in. however, i suspect the energy used to make the pellet wasn't included.
2 boiled eggs and a pickled cabbage
The lab announcement made no mention into the energy that went into creating the diamond shell fuel capsules. They did mention that hundreds of them are manufactured but only a few can meet the extreme standards needed to be used as fuel pellets. In the December 5, 2022, experiment announcement, one estimate was that the vaporized target assembly cost was greater than $100,000. The experiment resulted in about enough fusion energy to boil two liters of water. In such presentations numerous details are left out.
Gather 'round, seekers of knowledge bright, As we delve into the depths of cosmic light. At the Ri's embrace, on a February night, We journey into the realm of fusion's might. Fernanda Rimini, with expertise profound, Unveils the secrets of JET, where wonders abound. In plasma's dance, where temperatures soar, We glimpse the future, in fusion's core. Pietro Barabschi, with vision clear, Guides us through ITER, without fear. A monumental project, on a global scale, Where dreams of clean energy never fail. Tammy Ma, with passion ablaze, Reveals NIF's experiments, in cosmic maze. In the heart of fusion's fire, they strive, To unlock the secrets of energy alive. Compered by Melanie Windridge's keen insight, We journey through fusion's dazzling light. At the Ri's embrace, where minds ignite, We glimpse the future, burning bright. So let us celebrate, these pioneers bold, Who journey into the cosmic fold. In fusion's embrace, we find our way, To a future bright, in the cosmic play.
10:25 where's the chart for the sustained 1 minute operation?
The widely announced December 5, 2022, NIF experiment left out many key details. One was that the microscopic fusion reaction lasted for only approximately 0.000,000,000,08 second. Only approximately 4% of the extremely expensive fuel reacted before the rest was blown away from the reaction center. It took around a week to set up the experiment.
Though there are sceptics aplenty, and while it’s true it is a very difficult task to create a star on our planet, the fact is that fusion energy has been created and is being scaled up. On top of it all, achieving a succesful scaled up fusion energy power plant is of vital importance to achieving a long held goal to leave our planet better than we found it. However, if it proves too elusive despite all our best efforts and expenses, then we still have our natural, gravity confined, succesful fusion plant in the sky.
Very informative indeed. Thumbs up
Yet again an amazing presentation. Thank you for making these available to all of us.
0:18 AS spaceship print is it possible to print tecomact
Representativos of a stellarators should have been present. I am curious to see what the NIF representative says, but their research is not about fusion for peace, but thermonuclear bombs.
To all the skeptics with the "always 20 years away" argument.. Yeah, this is true, of course, we dont know how far away it is, or if its ever even possible to get a stable surplus of power from these things, but I still think we should double our efforts on this. The unbelievable (pun intended) advantages if we ever achieve it, would be worth the effort a thousand times over. And even if we never get a working reactor from it, research in this area will likely lead to unknown discoveries anyway. Everything impossible and futuristic is impossible until one day it isnt.
Not to say you are wrong, but it's also important to realize that just because a couple of times in the past an idea that seemed futuristic and impossible turned out to be actualized, millions of other ideas that seemed futuristic and impossible turned out to be just that. Turning over known science and the status quo is extremely rare. Newtonian physics wasn't overturned by Relativity, which wasn't overturned by Quantum physics, they built upon each other and apply equally well, depending on size and speed. Fusion, as is being looked at now, isn't such a case. To your other point that even if it doesn't ever work there may be discoveries made during the research that may be of great unknown benefit (whether in technologies or simply in knowledge) seems reasonable, but it is just as, if not more so, reasonable that if the billions of dollars being spent on fusion was instead spent elsewhere (there are only so many science dollars to go around) even more benefits would arise from that research.
I second this. Maybe I'm just too optimistic, but there's got to be at least some benefit to investing in fusion. Even if we don't get it working in our lifetimes.
Maybe, but we need to remember that resources are always limited i.e. we sacrifice spending in other areas to prioritise this. We also need to face the reality that this is very unlikely to arrive in time to help meet UN zero carbon goals. Lets hope at least one of the 100 plus startup disrupts the field to falsify that assessment.
Just don't use money for this research that could usefully be used to limit the effect of climate change! We must do that today! 20 years to get this tech working in the lab is too late
I’m curious about the investment returns in the fusion acronym industry.
Wow. They have used the merger of all the visible spectral wave lengths to simulate the sun more closely. I am looking forward to the results!
Very interesting. I'd like to know if the presenters would prefer the traditional podium instead of the "Ted Talk" format.
Intriguing
I use fusion energy everyday as I'm offgrid. The Sun is the perfect fusion reactor and is free everyday. If all the monies spent on fusion had been spent on space based solar, we would have unlimited energy today.
How does the Hydrogen in the Sun remain separated from Helium and gradual and controlled Fusion occur? Does anyone know?
it happens because helium is more dense than hidrgen so it ¨sinks¨ to the center of the star meanwhile hidrogen in the other inner layers can continue fusing, but it is no gradual or controlled fusion it happens very violently and widespread around the particular layer of the star and is contained thanks to the enourmus gravity that pulls to the center.
@@bullkathos4358 It is hard to imagine sinking Helium at 15 million degrees, how do the atoms know which way to go? Do He atoms push / sink toward the center and the H ejects out all the way to the earth at which point H atoms convert to Photons?
@@ShonMardani the helium does not need to move in any particular direction, on average it will have an easier time moving towards the center and slightly harder time moving out which over time randomly moving makes it sink.
@@krabkit nicely put. There’s a subtly to the nuclear processes happening inside the Sun which is hard to grasp intuitively at first. Appreciating how the core and the envelope of the Sun differ and over the huge scale of the inside of the sun, averages matter greatly. Fascinating topic!
@@ShonMardani you’re asking good questions. Remember the Sun is huge, and a helium atom will be feeling the force of gravity over a travel distance of 100,000’s of miles so it all adds up to an eventual pull toward the center. Consider this, the photon emitting from fusing H atoms in the core takes on average, millions of years to finally be emitted as sunlight! The core is complicated!
Excellent NIF lecture, but some comments: 1. The speaker talks about achieving Q=2, but this ignores the 500TW input to drive the lasers; 2. At 50.25 the diagram shows the four main parts of an IFE power plant - but where is the essential tritium breeding part??; 3. I’m told that the final laser lens will quickly be blackened by the fusion neutrons. Is this correct?
NIF is not meant to be a commercially viable fusion power plant, it is for testing methodology. They can't really afford to put in more efficient lasers, they were built almost 15 years ago. Part of what they are researching is material that will survive the continual high-powered laser shots. Material sciences is probably the most important engineering discipline.
@@viperswhip Material Sciences is so unappreciated for Fission and Fusion to be achieved.
0:30: ⚛️ Exploring the potential of fusion energy as a sustainable solution to global energy challenges. 5:26: ⚛️ Advancements in harnessing fusion energy through magnetic confinement using high-temperature plasma. 10:49: ⚛️ Advancements in fusion energy: replacing graphite with metal walls for improved efficiency. 16:23: ⚛️ Advancements in fusion energy research, including disruptions, wall damage, and AI applications. 22:00: ⚛️ Advancements in fusion energy research involving superconducting magnets and international collaboration. 27:33: 🎥 Overview of assembling TF coils for fusion energy in September 2023. 33:20: ⚛️ Advancements in fusion energy technology require thermal shielding for extreme temperature variations. 38:41: ⚛️ Advancing collaboration in fusion energy research and development. 44:20: ⚛️ Cutting-edge fusion energy research using powerful lasers to create miniature stars for energy production. 49:33: ⚛️ Advancements in fusion energy, achieving energy gains and challenges in transitioning to a power plant. 54:38: ⚛️ Advancements in fusion energy technology and political support are driving momentum towards commercialization. Tammy AI: Get video info faster & better
Wonderful presentations! Thank you for the updates.
Doesn't the reaction need to be substantively exothermic for this to work? Maybe the extra energy is added by hot air?
Once fusion is available, how do we disipate the waste heat? Use fusion to scrub greenhouse gasses?
It’s hard enough to develop the technology required to achieve stable fusion……but we know even less about the inner workings of the global ecosystem. Scrubbing greenhouse gasses gets into the realm of climate modification, and because we simply don’t know where to stop….some level of greenhouse gasses are required to sustain life……I for one think Mother Nature is infinitely more capable of managing the environment.
Excellent presenation!
I hope it works and we can live in energy abundant plenty.
Don't hold your breath!
Should AGI appear, and this task could be delegated to it, then our primary task should be to make AGI safe before it exists?
Where is the super heated Helium? How do you transfer the heat from He atoms to boil the water? Where and how we separate the H from He and then extract the He from system? Self sustained reaction do not make sense if the fuel (H) is consumed, does He atoms breaks into Hydrogen? Is it better just boil the water using all that electricity and magnets and the energy to produce Hydrogen isotopes? How do you ionize H atoms and how ions can turn into plasma and move through the air atoms? Ionization only happens in liquid not gas/air.
When I saw who the ITER director is, I lost the last shred of hope I had for the project. The entire lecture felt like it was made for children, not adults.
You know what they dont say? Floating wind and floating wave and on-building solar as cheap as dirt, and thermocoupling breakthroughs making ground heat easy to turn to electricity, and new materials making everything lighter. None of which requires a costly brittle radioactive neutron scattering sheath. The thing that made fission uneconomic. Nor about harvesting static potebtial or lightning from the air.
Will they be able to capture the helium? Does that mean we won't have to worry about a helium supply anymore?
Yes. If they cant, thays their fault. Helium doesnt dissapear, it shows up in the room ventilation would capture it
I didn't think we were weried about it before as we have enough for about 3000 years if I recall correctly.
I th8nk it’ll be captured, yes, but it’ll be very small amounts of helium.
The amount of Helium produced will be miniscule compared to what industry uses.
@@JohnDunne001 Speaking theoretically about an experimentally proven set of technologies; on fusion generating helium and able to convert hydrogen.... There are two things working for us, the direct production, and the indirect enablement to capture helium from the aptmosphere and run the machines or vehichles required to caputure it. Hydrogen based fuels are energy based to produce, so at least we get unlimited energy and rocket / jet / car fuel. Helium doesnt just dissapear into space, we just relied on helium being relatively easier to aquire from underground repositories and low efficiency air capture technologies. Ultimately, when energy is fully abundant, we would be able to aquire resources easier, and thus make more fusion reactors with said resources in a slightly positve reinforcement loop. If we start running out of resources on earth, we can mine the whole solar system and recycle better (restore sillica for instance) and virtually never run out. How do we reach it? Having fusion reactors on a pathway in space to turn cargo water into oxygen and hydrogen as fuel, for refuling smaller ships over hops. Then the channel flown in space can be a space road, with sparesely spread out space drones following behind the ship literally launched from the station into another station. The drones purpose is to collect the dispelled ions (H2O, from recombining in combistion) by the rocket, given the rocket has charged its expelled gas via ion thrusters. The drones attracts water, curving its trajectory into collisions, and these drones are positively charged with zenneck surface waves which are positive pulsed surface charge. It can attract the ship's expelled gas. Multiple drones shot at different times and speeds can capture most water but not all. The drones use slight fuel to slow and aim, and the recepitcal of the drone can capture ions too. The station shoots drones equally in both direction. Each time, balancing it in space. Re-capturing drones from a previous station in the line. Thus it may be called a water collector or scientifically a 'Zenneck Samudra drone' meaning 'a drone with positively pulsed electrified surface where water gathers' Cheers all, feel free to spread the idea. This was an original idea of mime, that I'm aware of, based on @e.t.h.e.r.official on IG's description of the B-52 secondary ion thrust electro-mechanisim, and years of expensive research on electromagnetic theory and its underlying applications and evidence. If a similar ion thrust enginer was used on earth, no recaputre drones are needed, and addding a positively charged leading edge will attract negative ions expelled, causing them to move forwards and create forward thrust. Not sure if this applies to rockets in space, but worth a try, as it may operate a bit like an Albuquerque warp drive? See ya around
I Must find out how to fuse my different personalities to be more energetic and useful to society in general. Quench my turbulences
Great talks. Always interesting. Fusion energy can be low carbon but is not inherently sustainable because the fuel will run out relatively quickly. Also the product helium does not cycle back to fuel, deuterium and tritium, so not sustainable. Really nice science though.
Relatively quickly? Thousands to millions of years is not good enough for you?
Fusion is infinitely sustainable for a spacefaring civilization -- the two technologies are complementary. Perhaps they will mature alongside eachother.
A fusion reactor i think will always be out competed by indirect fusion (solar power) but where fusion will really shine is as a mobile source of power that works anywhere without connecting to the grid and will be invaluable in space as both surface power on other planets and in fusion rockets and spacecraft powered by fusion for interstellar travel.
"indirect fusion" (solar power) lol oh boy that's a good one ! haha! that's like saying Trepanning is just like a paracetamol tablet....
@@ashleyobrien4937 the sun is a fusion reactor and we just capture that energy. Fossil fuels are even more indirect or stored fusion as organism gained energy from the sun long ago and became fossil fuels.
54:38 Thank you!
all this trouble to generate heat that can be turned into electricity. people should be using the "waste" heat generated by data centres to generate electricity. simple heat pump and stirling engine combo would do the trick. on the subject of fusion, i find the LPP dense plasma focus system much more interesting than these options, shame it wasn't covered in the talk. same is true of the first light projectile system.
I'll believe it when I see it.
Google say: Ionization is the process by which ions are formed by gain or loss of an electron from an atom or molecule. How do you remove the only electron Hydrogen atom has? If you do atom collapses in to the size of a proton.
Wonderful!
If it did not have a decent chance there would hardly be poured bill of $of private equity in to start ups
Korea managed to have a fusion going for 48 seconds.
Wouldn’t it be crazy if aliens tell us “ you are so close, the only thing you need now is peanut butter “
Still not sure how they would siphon off the energy from a plasma ring to a steam turbine ?
The plasma produces neutrons that carry away 80% of the energy of the fusion reaction. These hit and heat the coolant, making it hot. This coolant then goes out to power the turbine! Most of the remaining 20% of the reaction power stays in the plasma as charged particles, helping to keep it hot enough to keep the fusion reactions going!
Water is a fantastic neutron absorber. (one of the reasons its used in nuclear reactors)
An outstanding presentation. Thank-you to all involved!
I feel like we’re going to get fusion before Nintendo gives us a Switch 2 at this point
Great presentation but latest in fusion as a topic should cover new approaches and recent improvements made to in relevant technologies and not just cover the achievements of well known public institutions
Not sure if there is anything out there for the public but how does the NIF work for the study of the nuclear weapon stockpile research? I'd watch a 90 minute video on the subject intensely.
We know something about civilization generally and city size specifically. All this before the internet. Some of our fellow humans probably can speak to the number of humans needed to sustain a scientific community. Do any of us know the minimal number of humans required to advance as a species and to allow for natural ecosystems? Do we actually need to travel off planet earth so as not to destroy her? Big questions!
Oh one of those people in that crowd is Doctor Who, I know it, I done seen this episode
Practical fusion energy is only 30 years away!
Even if it were 3000 years away, it'd be a good investment. Fusion power means the problem of energy is solved forever.
@@dr.zoidberg8666 True
Can fusion be profitable without gravity
It is 20 years away.
Could we print the whole plant by using mining and prduction robots and AI...thanks great explanation
Energy will never be free. It will always cost the man at the bottom.
I am astounded by the level of ignorance in these comments here. Fusion is the most technologically challenging project in the history of mankind. So how can anyone wonder that it takes a lot of time ? - and the progress is undeniable. Fusion is now done routinely everyday. So people here in the comments talking about it beeing 20 years in the future are either ignorant, stupid or both. Fusion is NOT science anymore it is engineering. It's pretty obvious for anyone with just a small bit of sound reason that ITER will be a huge succes despite smaller setbacks. It's a very good idea that they build it large, so it can convincingly demonstrate the feasability of fusion power.
Some humans, however many, are concerned about our fellow creatures. Not so much domesticated animals. Cows, pigs, cats, dogs. But wolves, bison. Untamed animals. Some envision fewer humans utilizing less space. More grasslands, forests. Hopefully teeming with untamed animals. I dream that we can achieve fusion energy and bio diverse landscapes. Sufficiently large enough for migration. Even as I write, I know that I do not have long as the entity that I am. Soon the chemicals from which I consist, will decouple and become something else. Perhaps living. Perhaps not.
NIF looks like science fiction
ICF needs a CATALYST
I think a magnetic top can be spun with a lazer and generate power. Change my mind or save the world.
Frickin' laser windscreen wipers
When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way; from your first cigarette to your last dying day!
Uhh, this talk is pretty basic, at least the 1st presenter is discussing Jet, but it's been a long time, we know how it works, we don't need to retread it, I would prefer them to focus on recent discoveries. You can skip 70% of each presenter to get to what they are doing now.
The AI generated subtitles are very poor, doesn't anyone check these things any more? I'm seeing about one misinterpreted word every 30 seconds.
Italian women seem to be spearheading all of humanity's science these days. Take notice!
One can hardly fail to be impressed by the ITER project but the word on the ground is that a reactor this size will be completely uneconomical - this is shown by the move, eg by Tokamak Energy and the UKAEA, to small spherical reactors. This will leave ITER as the biggest white elephant in scientific history. Even the hyped factor of 10 value for Q is argued by some to be about 1.
پیشرفت هاتون فوق العادست این مشکل انرژی حل بشه به نفع همه است
Fusion is always 20 years away.
Looks like ppt editing training is mandatory for these scientists.
Wait, IKEA is doing fusion reactors now? Crikey.
Place sun in slot E5
Meat balls heated with plasma
Man. Good luck with all this. And hurry up.
Is an american football field an SI unit?
If we could somehow convert hype into useable energy we could be off fossil fuels tomorrow.
Amen!
best video in existence ☀️
sure, if you have seen them all, which you have not.
It’s funny how the Americans think their tech is actually ground breaking.. boring, this is 2024 not the 90’s
Three sales pitches for more tax money. Huge projects in huge buildings employing a large number of otherwise useful people to USE fossil fuel energy and obscene amounts of taxpayer money for generations to produce dreams. Every great Physicist did his work at little cost to society, and not one of them suggested that he be paid obscene amounts of taxpayer money to build a small town employing all of his buddies so that someday, several generations from now, they may or may not have something to show for it. The woman at the end will tell you she will be employed for a long time, as will the next generation of scientist (something she said with too much glee and too little shame).
40:27 14 seconds and they got a very small bump. It does not take into account the build-up of energy before the “device came online she said”. Worst talk on this channel I have seen. I am happy to argue the point. Please tell me I'm wrong ❤️🇬🇧💯
It is always suspect when a CEO is pimping an idea for money. This from her website. "Are you looking to invest in fusion and not sure where to start?" It's like the oil industry, or the coal industry, telling you that "They are the future. Invest now!.
Stllarator ftw
See you in 20 years
Makes about as much sense as H2 for transport. $6B in private capital investment? Pffffft...Tesla is planning on spending $10B alone in 2024, just on AI compute.
It would help when science communicaters help convey the urgency that is the ongoing sarscov2 pandemic. Longcovid and more affects more people with every infection wave. ffp2 hepa and more helps you and others. Thank you.
As always, commercial fusion is still 20 years away in the future. Fusion is still a very expensive science experiment. A real commercial fusion plant, probably not before 2050 at the earliest. I really don't understand why these private investors who are looking for positive returns in 2-3 years will wait for 20 - 30 years and keep on funding the projects.
Sigh... Ri biochemistry and OoL presentations attract the religions nutcases to the honeypot, this talk attracts the plainly ignorant and amazing armchair nuclear scientists. What a great display of the best of the best! /s