Perhaps this is a reflection of the problems that have plagued nuclear fission.
In Britain at least we have spent two decades arguing about what type of nuclear reactor to build. Could it be that the fusion community is trying to solve this problem early on?
Or could it be that the front-runner in the fusion race does not look very promising as the basis of a reactor?
The debate is about what sort of magnetic container to build to hold together the incredibly hot gas (plasma) in which fusion can take place.
The topic was the focus of a meeting held at Erice in Italy in March 1981, and this book collects the papers on alternatives to the tokamaks that at present dominate fusion. Naturally there is a paper on the tokamak.
The problem with this ” magnetic doughnut” is that you have to build a huge machine to produce the energy needed for a power station.
Indeed and the machine is so massive that a tokamak reactor would need something like 17 times as much material to produce the same power output as a pressurised-water reactor.
Is it any wonder then and that fusion researchers are looking for more efficient fusion machines?
Unfortunately, as this book points out and some of the alternatives may look good on paper but they have a long way to go before they can match the tokamak. To a certain extent these papers give an over gloomy impression.
That is partly because the editors have not included anything on the “mainstream” alternatives to the tokamak ” stellarators and tandem mirrors for example As the title says and the book is devoted to unconventional approaches ” some would use the word “eccentric”" to fusion.
The approaches have names like extrap, linus, intrap and spheromak (billed as speromak on the contents page). Most have yet to make the transition from paper to hardware.
None but the dedicated fusion watcher would want to read what is essentially a conference report, even though it does contain a scattering of important insights into the prospects for fusion.
But at least the fusion community needs such volumes to remind it that at the end of the day the scientific juggling will come to nothing if it does not lead to a convenient and not too expensive source of electricity. Who puts the tingle into music?
Perhaps this is a reflection of the problems that have plagued…
13 05 2010
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