I am apparently making history with this post as no reporters or bloggers have carried what I’m about to write. Yet.
Radioactive waste is a hot topic these days. Nuclear power is safe and efficient but the disposal, transportation, and storage of the spent rods and fuel is a toxic and dangerous debate that few can engage unscarred.
As I continue to gather data for a longer blog post on radioactive recycling and R&D pipeline alternatives to nuclear power, I’d like to focus on fusion power, which is very expensive but very safe.
Have you heard of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project?
The ITER project is a 2-year-old partnership between Japan, China, Korea, Russia, India, the European Union, and the United States.
The project’s goal is to build the world’s largest experimental fusion power plant and site it in Cadarche, France. It is expected to be built by 2018.
CNN reported on the project in 2003.
ITER’s governing council concluded its second organizational meeting today in Aomori, Japan.
“ITER is the greatest science adventure of our time,” praised director-general Kaname Ikeda in today’s press release.
Good luck finding any online site, other than right here, that refers to today’s meeting.
“By creating ITER our members have established a completely new model for international collaboration and it is our challenge to show that outstanding talent coming from many different nationalities can fuse to create a dynamic workforce. I believe we are making excellent progress.“
If successful, the fusion reactor, based on the proven tokamak model, would heat plasma to over 100 million degrees and produce 500 megawatts of energy.
The EU will contribute 50 percent of the construction cost. The other partners will share the remainder; the U.S. ITER agency projects its portion to be $1.1 billion.
Today’s meeting also approved formal interactions to begin with Kazakhstan to become the eighth partner. Should this occur, everyone’s costs would decrease by a few million, or a few hundred thousand at least.
In related energy news from Okinawa, Japan, the G8 science and technology panel met earlier this week and pledged to cooperate on a global low-carbon diet.
Cooperation and collaboration are the arms of the future. Only by working together can a dream become a reality.
What do you think? Is fusion power a worthwhile investment, tapping into the energy of the sun and stars? Or a grandiose scheme that has no bearing on Earth? And what of the news media that chooses not to report on things that I find online?
Related posts:
Comments:
Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
978-558-0008
ConvoTrack
{ 5 comments }
You might have missed something:
Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion
WB-7 First Plasma
World’s Simplest Fusion Reactor Revisited
Starting A Fusion Program In Your Home Town
I had no idea such a project existed! Fascinating! My personal favorite kind of new-wave energy technology is GeoThermal. God knows if we don’t quit with the coal and oil, we are in deep trouble.
Tokamak is certainly NOT a proven technology, not by any means. ITER pretends that it is, of course, but in reality tokamak reactors have NEVER created more energy than they’ve used.
Ever.
@M. Simon: Thanks for the links, which I perused through. Clearly there is a lot of data out there. It would be helpful if you could summarize the major points.
@Andy: I wouldn’t use the term, “new-wave,” but I agree that fossil fuels are not the way to go long-term.
@Anon 9.30: Fair enough. I didn’t claim tokamak is proven, per se, but the Wikipedia entry the word links to indicates approximately 30 tokamak reactors either in past or present operation which tells me it’s more than just a concept.
Ari, don’t use Wikipedia as a primary source. First rule of journalism, ‘k?
Tokamaks are proven to generate fusion plasma, but not on an energy generating basis (and not even in a continous mode but only for seconds at a time). They consume more power than they produce and while the tokamak enthusiasts keep saying “A few more years and we’ll get there” they have, in fact, been saying that for close to 40 years.
Comments on this entry are closed.