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A talk prepared for YR11 physics students, outlining what fusion power is, arguments for debate why fusion power will be needed and who the the competitors are and how they will plan to achieve break-even fusion
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Fusion PowerWhat?
Why?How?
Oliver Snow PMP BEng
Fusion
Sources of Elements
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/N/nucleosynthesis.html
Relative Abundance of Elements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleosynthesis
7 Billion People
image courtesy of chrisroll FreeDigitalPhotos.net
and counting...
Burning Up• Fossil Fuels are largest source of energy
• Average coal-fired plant burns 10,000 tonnes per day
• over 7 billion tonnes of coal every year world wide
• plus about 1 Cubic Mile of Oil per Year
= Lots of air pollutionhttp://www.iea.org/aboutus/faqs/coal/http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2186
So Whathappens IF...... we stay on this track?
Over 1,000 new coal-fired power plants planned
Acceptable Future?
"If the average energy consumption per person
doubles, this country will be choked to death by polluted air"
http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/03/china-targets-new-molten-salt-thorium.html
In the US, the median
person pays $1 in 6 for
energy
$9,000/year, $22 a day
Worldwide:
$1 a day for energy
on $3 a day
income
Fission – an Alternative?
•Cost of Fukushima Daichi disaster - $300bn and counting…
What IF...we change track?
Renewables?• Won‘t scale fast enough
• Cannot match Coal / Oil for cost
• Not suitable for baseload power
• Energy storage still in early stages
„Conventional“ Fusion
D + T -> He + Neutr
HEAT
http://iter.rma.ac.be/en/Documents/Pictures/
In the Race for D-T Fusion
13th Feb 2014
„…$5 billion National Ignition Facility, where scientists recently got a tiny bit closer to their goal of creating a controlled fusion reaction…”
Still just a big hole in the ground...
Magnetised Target Fusion
General Fusion (MTF)
• Targeting 2018 for Net Gain
High-β (beta) Fusion Reactor
„pB11“ Fusion:
eutronic“
The Race for Aneutronic Fusion
• Lawrenceville Plasma Physics DPF (2015 ?)
• Polywell (US Navy, Secret) IEC (201x ???)
• Tri Alpha Energy Field Reversed(20??)
Field Reversed Configuration (3α)
http://www.alternative-energy-action-now.com/tri-alpha-energy.html
Polywell IEC
http://thepolywellblog.blogspot.com.au/2012_07_01_archive.html
Lawrenceville Plasma Physics Dense Plasma Focus
Goal product: 5 MW Focus Fusion generator
At approx $1M / unit
Lower projected cost than any other energy tech
$60/kW or 0.2 cents/kWh
Focus Fusion Timeline
2013-2014: Scientific demo
2017-2018: Commercial prototype
2019: Mass manufacture
Independent Review Assessment
“a much higher
level of investment is
warranted“
More Information
http://www.lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com
http://focusfusion.org
http://generalfusion.com
http://www.industrytap.com/can-fusion-energy-generate-unlimited-clean-energy-by-2017/2894
http://www.alternative-energy-action-now.com/tri-alpha-energy.html
http://thepolywellblog.blogspot.com.au/
Thank You
Aneutronic Fusion Comparison
Log
Tem
per
atu
re
(eV
)
Log (Density x Confinement Time) (sec/cc)