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deal with -- but there are predicted in 1950 that we 2) what do you keep the and although the theory says
solutions. The Swiss would have fusion power in hydrogen in, if it's that hot? absolutely "yes", the
Federal Office of Energy, twenty years; in 1970 he 3) will the amount of energy conditions are extremely
for example, is mounting made the same forecast and produced be more than the demanding. The question is
an exhibition concerning in 1990 once again. He died amount you need to generate much more complex than it
this problem in all cantonal in 1999, and we still don't the heat? sounds.
offices of land man- have fusion! But it should 4) et cetera!
agement from 15 January work -- it is the basis of the But today interest in nuclear
to 20 April 2007, details of thermonuclear (or hydro- Answers to these questions fusion is re-awakening. A
which can be found on gen) bomb, which works. have been developed, in second - generation
Thermo-
wwwdechetsradioact(fs.ch The sun has been using this part, and although serious International
same nuclear reaction to progress has been made, we nuclear
Experimental
generate light and heat for do not yet have commercial Reactor (ITER) with a bud-
Fusion millennia. fusion energy. Work on this get of US$13 billion (Euro
form of energy has been 10 billion, half of which will
But there is a newer, more If the challenge to control going on in laboratories all come from the EU) has just
exciting type of nuclear the reaction can be conque- around the world. The best been announced, to be built
energy, which (unfortuna- red, we have a virtually unli- answers so far are something in Cadarache, France, of 500
tely) is not yet commer- mited source of energy like the following: MW; start of full-scale ope-
cially available, or indeed which has a very low proba- 1) you point a whole lot of ration is expected in 2016.
technically proven. This is bility of an accident occur- very powerful laser beams at Thirty nations have pledged
based on the controlled ring; in the fusion system one spot, and run a pretty hot support, and the principal
reaction that powers the there is only a very small stream (a plasma) of hydro- goal is to provide the defini-
sun (and the hydrogen amount of fuel at one time gen or its isotopes through tive answer: will fusion tech-
bomb), and is known as (on the order of one kilo- that spot; nology ever work?
nuclear fusion energy. gram), and the supply can 2) you keep the hot spot
Here, instead of splitting be shut off instantly should suspended in a magnetic Conclusions
the atom, as in fission, the things start running amok. field. The most used system
idea is to fuse together There are essentially no to do this involves a toka- Overall, and under current
nuclei of very light atoms - nuclear waste products or mak, a donut-shaped or regulatory measures, the
- particularly hydrogen and by-products. And, of course, automobile tire-shaped devi- OECD expects nuclear fis-
some variants (isotopes) there are no oil spills, coal- ce used to concentrate the sion to remain economically
which are extremely abun- miners' lung diseases or magnetic field, with the hot competitive with fossil fuel
dant on the earth's surface. greenhouse gases. The main spot in the centre. A list of generation.
Ocean or river water is the by-product of the reaction is tokamaks in operation
main raw material source principally helium, which is worldwide (some twenty to Total independence for ener-
for the hydrogen and its light, non-toxic and has no twenty-five machines: gy for every country, using
isotopes. The amount of known negative effects on www en.wikipedia. org/wiki/ safe, clean and healthy tech-
energy that can be obtai- the environment. Tokamak) includes one in nologies -- shouldn't this be
ned by efficient fusion Lausanne at the EPFL. the goal of energy develop-
reactions is phenomenal. It The major difficulty is the 3) additional energy has ment projects?
is claimed that the energy extreme conditions needed been produced -- rarely --
available in one half of a for the fusion of hydrogen
bathtub of ocean water is (or its isotopic variants deu-
enough to provide all the terium and tritium). These
energy requirements of an nuclei must come together
average person living in in very close proximity,
Europe for thirty years! such that the repellant force
of two positive particles is
Electricity from nuclear overcome by the strong
fusion is in principle the force of nuclear binding.
cleanest, safest and This requires literally
che-apest form of energy several million degrees
we can have -- if only it Centigrade in a very
can be made to work! In a controlled environment, and
series of famous quotes, this of course poses immen-
se problems:
Glenn
Seaborg,
an
American Nobel laureate 1) how do you generate
in nuclear chemistry, such temperatures?
1 2007 Diva 21

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