Fusion breeding for mid-century, sustainable, carbon free power
Fusion has often been billed as the ultimate 21st century sustainable energy source. However, not only is the pace of the program glacially slow, it seems to recede further and further into the future. One way to speed up the delivery of economical fusion could be to change the objective from pure f...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2020-09-01
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| Series: | Heliyon |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020317667 |
| _version_ | 1828414699459313664 |
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| author | Wallace Manheimer |
| author_facet | Wallace Manheimer |
| author_sort | Wallace Manheimer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fusion has often been billed as the ultimate 21st century sustainable energy source. However, not only is the pace of the program glacially slow, it seems to recede further and further into the future. One way to speed up the delivery of economical fusion could be to change the objective from pure fusion, that is the use of the 14 MeV fusion neutron's kinetic energy to boil water; to fusion breeding, that is the former, but also making use of the neutrons 'potential energy' to breed ten times its energy in the form of nuclear fuel to be burned in separate reactors. The requirements of a fusion breeder are greatly relaxed from the requirements for a pure fusion reactor. For instance, ITER, the large tokamak being built by an international consortium in France, could well be the basis of an economical fusion breeder, but would have to clear many more scientific and technical hurdles before it could become the basis for a pure fusion reactor; hurdles it may or may not be able to clear. Even if it clears them, ITER is unlikely to evolve into an economical pure fusion power supply this century. A fusion breeder as could be alternate approach to speed the delivery of economical of fusion power. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T13:31:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b57647626b441d48d098f36ac7e0323 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T13:31:12Z |
| publishDate | 2020-09-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b57647626b441d48d098f36ac7e03232022-12-22T01:46:58ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402020-09-0169e04923Fusion breeding for mid-century, sustainable, carbon free powerWallace Manheimer0Corresponding author.; Retired from US Naval Research Laboratory, USAFusion has often been billed as the ultimate 21st century sustainable energy source. However, not only is the pace of the program glacially slow, it seems to recede further and further into the future. One way to speed up the delivery of economical fusion could be to change the objective from pure fusion, that is the use of the 14 MeV fusion neutron's kinetic energy to boil water; to fusion breeding, that is the former, but also making use of the neutrons 'potential energy' to breed ten times its energy in the form of nuclear fuel to be burned in separate reactors. The requirements of a fusion breeder are greatly relaxed from the requirements for a pure fusion reactor. For instance, ITER, the large tokamak being built by an international consortium in France, could well be the basis of an economical fusion breeder, but would have to clear many more scientific and technical hurdles before it could become the basis for a pure fusion reactor; hurdles it may or may not be able to clear. Even if it clears them, ITER is unlikely to evolve into an economical pure fusion power supply this century. A fusion breeder as could be alternate approach to speed the delivery of economical of fusion power.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020317667Nuclear engineeringNuclear physicsPlasma physicsFusion breedingMagnetic fusionHybrid fusion |
| spellingShingle | Wallace Manheimer Fusion breeding for mid-century, sustainable, carbon free power Heliyon Nuclear engineering Nuclear physics Plasma physics Fusion breeding Magnetic fusion Hybrid fusion |
| title | Fusion breeding for mid-century, sustainable, carbon free power |
| title_full | Fusion breeding for mid-century, sustainable, carbon free power |
| title_fullStr | Fusion breeding for mid-century, sustainable, carbon free power |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fusion breeding for mid-century, sustainable, carbon free power |
| title_short | Fusion breeding for mid-century, sustainable, carbon free power |
| title_sort | fusion breeding for mid century sustainable carbon free power |
| topic | Nuclear engineering Nuclear physics Plasma physics Fusion breeding Magnetic fusion Hybrid fusion |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844020317667 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wallacemanheimer fusionbreedingformidcenturysustainablecarbonfreepower |