France Will Host World's First Nuclear-Fusion Reactor

[J-10]

France Will Host World's First Nuclear-Fusion Reactor
June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Japan agreed to let France host the world's first nuclear-fusion reactor, ending a deadlock over where to locate the 4.6-billion-euro ($5.6 billion) energy experiment involving the European Union, the U.S., Russia, China, South Korea and Japan.

The six members of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project agreed today to build the facility in the southern French city of Cadarache, Antonia Mochan, a European Commission spokeswoman for science and research, told reporters after a meeting in Moscow.

``Today we are making history in terms of international scientific cooperation,'' the Commission said in a statement.

The reactor could theoretically generate ``clean'' energy by fusing together light atoms such as hydrogen. It will cost a total of about 10 billion euros including operating expenses over 35 years.

The host country will pay 50 percent of construction costs and the other five members of the project will pay 10 percent each, Russia's Nuclear Energy Agency said June 24.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000100&sid=aNce8mube6T8

[Ghostwolf]

Posted already.

Same news but different sources

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=52560

[Moledet]

Can it blow up?

[Brzeczyszczykiewicz]

Can it blow up?

No.

[Uncle Chô]

Can it blow up?

No.

The Titanic was also believe to be unsinkable...

:roll:

[Fenna]

The titanic wasn't a nuclear fusion reactor

[Clearday-TRForce]

By Vladimir Isachenkov
The Associated Press

MOSCOW -- A six-party consortium chose France as the site for an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, a spokeswoman for the European Union said Tuesday.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is intended to show that nuclear fusion, which harnesses the same energy that heats the sun to generate electricity, can wean the world off pollution-producing fossil fuels. Nuclear fusion produces no greenhouse gas emissions and only low levels of radioactive waste.


The project is funded by a consortium comprised of Japan, the United States, South Korea, Russia, China and the European Union, but the six parties had been divided over where to put the test reactor.

Competition was intense. At stake are billions of dollars worth of research funding, construction and engineering contracts, and the creation of up to 100,000 new jobs, according to estimates cited by Dow Jones NewsWires.

Japan, the United States and South Korea wanted the facility built at Rokkasho in northern Japan. Russia, China and the European Union wanted it at Cadarache, in southern France. Site proposals for Canada and Spain had already been withdrawn.

Antonia Mochan, spokeswoman for the European Commission's science and research committee, said the decision was made in Moscow at a closed-door meeting of the consortium.

The EU site in France had been seen as the front-runner, and Japanese newspaper reports had said Tokyo was prepared to give up hosting the $13 billion ITER project in return for a bigger research and operations role in the project.

Some scientists have warned that both sites are in seismically active zones and could be ****e to earth tremors.


regards.

[RGRBOX]

****... that's all we needed to have south of us.. now if **** hits the fan, Marine isn't the only sound it's going to make.... Plus this is some beautiful country down there....

[Fenna]

Fusion is inherently safer than fission, and look at how much fission was feared for being unsafe.

The thing with fusion is that if a malfunction was to occur, the reactor would shut down within a few minutes as the fusion reactants would be used up so quickly. The products of fusion are a lot safer than plutonium which is the product of fission. The problem with plutonium is that it's an alpha emitter with a 24,000 year half life. The products of fusion aren't radioactive.

In short, fusion is nothing to worry about

[RGRBOX]

Fusion is inherently safer than fission, and look at how much fission was feared for being unsafe.

The thing is with fusion is that if a malfunction was to occur, the reactor would should down within a few minutes as the fusion reactants would be used up so quickly. The products of fusion are a lot safer than plutonium which is the product of fission. The problem with plutonium is that it's an alpha emitter with a 24,000 year half life. The products of fusion aren't radioactive.

In short, fusion is nothing to worry about

Thanks for the science class... this does make me feel better a little...

[Blarney]

hmmm....france with a thermonuclear fusion reactor........great

the benefits are quite astounding and the potential is great, but this is relatively new technology and even potentially unsafe, no matter how much beauracrats say it is safe. I see disaster......

[Belrick]

Yes, look at all the disasters fission reactors have caused the US over the last 50 years.
All the horrors, mutants and devastation. Yet here they are again setting up an even safer power source, the world is doomed for sure.

[JoaMei]

The technology is pretty safe, if you stop adding Deuterium and Tritium to the chamber the fusion stops.

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,317117,00.jpg

[Belrick]

Just so you guys know. This isnt the worlds first fusion reactor. Princeton universty ran one between 1982-1997.
Tokomak

[Seiyuuki]

France to Be Site of World's First (Belrick is right, it is not the first) Nuclear Fusion Reactor
By CRAIG S. SMITH
Published: June 28, 2005

PARIS, June 28 - France won an international competition today to be the site of the world's first nuclear fusion reactor, an estimated $12 billion project that many scientists see as essential to solving the world's future energy needs.

"It is a great success for France, for Europe and for all the partners" in the reactor project, President Jacques Chirac of France said in a statement after an international consortium chose the country as the site for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

Japan, which had lobbied hard for the project, just dropped out of the bidding. The six-member consortium, which includes the United States, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and the European Union, agreed in Moscow to build the reactor in the southern French city of Cadarache.

Nuclear fusion is the process by which the atomic nuclei are forced together, releasing huge amounts of energy, as with the sun and stars or, in manmade form, the hydrogen bomb. The process has long been studied as a potential energy source that would be far cleaner than burning fossil fuels or even nuclear fission, which is used in nuclear reactors today but produces dangerous radioactive waste.

While the physics of nuclear fusion have long been understood, the engineering required to control the process remains difficult and the logistics of coordinating construction among a six-member consortium presents an even bigger challenge.

The reactor project was started in 1988 but quickly bogged down in bickering over where the reactor's design team would be based. A compromise split the team between Japan, Germany and the United States, but the inability to decide on a single site foreshadowed the consortium's struggle over agreeing where the reactor would be built.

Canada, Spain, France and Japan were originally in contention to host the reactor, but a December 2003 meeting to pick a winner ended in a deadlock, with the United States, Japan and South Korea backing the Japanese site and the other three consortium members pushing for the site in France.

Japan finally agreed to relinquish its bid in return for the consortium's commitment to build a $1 billion materials testing facility in that country.

The consortium also promised Japan that any subsequent fusion reactor would be built there, a significant concession as the first reactor is a development project meant to solve the various technical problems involved and prove that fusion can be harnessed as an economically viable energy source. A second reactor would likely be a prototype meant for commercial power generation.

The standoff put the project on hold. With today's agreement, the consortium can proceed with the drafting of an agreement on the construction and operation of the reactor. Officials involved in the reactor project said they hoped the agreement would be signed by the end of the year, allowing work on the reactor to begin next year and ground to be broken at the Cadarache site in 2008.

Current plans foresee the reactor operating in 2015.

Construction of the reactor is expected to cost $5 billion with its operation is expected to cost another $5 billion over twenty years, according to officials of the reactor project. Those numbers are based on present-day dollars, however, meaning the actual cost of the reactor will be much higher by the time it is completed.

Many experts also predict that construction could take much longer than currently foreseen, given the difficulty of coordinating multiple suppliers of costly and highly technical components in many countries. Today's agreement leaves open the possibility that still more countries may participate in the project. India, for example, has expressed interest in getting involved.

The final agreement on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is expected to include provisions that would require consortium members that cause delays to pay compensation.

The fusion project has stirred controversy since it was first considered in the 1980's, with many scientists arguing that "big science" projects like the multibillion-dollar experimental reactor would divert money from the "little science" of individual researchers who have often produced the most striking scientific breakthroughs.

But such criticism has been drowned out by the growing recognition of fusion's potential as a solution to the world's growing energy needs.

"We all know oil and gas depletion will start in 2030 or 2035," said Peter Haug, secretary general of the European Nuclear Society.

He said most experts agree that because of technical difficulties, renewable energy sources like wind or solar power are unlikely to provide more than 15 or 20 percent of the world's energy needs. There is enough coal in the earth to keep the world running for centuries, but at an unacceptable environmental cost because of air pollution. As the world's oil and gas fields become exhausted, the world is expect to increase its reliance on nuclear energy.

"We don't think fusion will remove fission from the production scheme," Mr. Haug said. "But it will probably be used along with fission because of the growing energy needs of man."

Still, few scientists expect a fusion reactor to generate commercially viable electricity before the middle of the century, if by then.

In the meantime, the fusion project means money for the industries and scientific communities that will contribute to it.

"It's brings great joy and great pride," said Pascale Amenc Antoni, director of the Cadarache Center, which is run by France's Atomic Energy Commission.. She said it also recognizes the work on nuclear fusion at its research facility.

[Falco]

Fusion is inherently safer than fission, and look at how much fission was feared for being unsafe.

The thing is with fusion is that if a malfunction was to occur, the reactor would should down within a few minutes as the fusion reactants would be used up so quickly. The products of fusion are a lot safer than plutonium which is the product of fission. The problem with plutonium is that it's an alpha emitter with a 24,000 year half life. The products of fusion aren't radioactive.

In short, fusion is nothing to worry about

**** happens

Artificial intelligence is no match for human stupidity ;)

[TheKiwi]

Just so you guys know. This isnt the worlds first fusion reactor. Princeton universty ran one between 1982-1997.
Tokomak

No, it's just the latest version, and one that will hopefully carry out a self sustaining reaction (that is, generate more power than is put into it).

Reactors like this one work by placing the plasma gas under intensely high pressure. If the pressure is released, the conditions under which fusion can occur stop. In short, pop a hatch, the gas is released and the fusion reaction comes to a complete halt within a second or two. No problem, and completely safe (unless you are a hippy who won't come within 200 miles of a nuclear plant as it will contaminate your aura).

[AROUETLJ]

Yeah, Greenpeace had to spout some (unusual) bull**** about this being a waste of money since we should be looking for alternative energy sources.

I can understand them being against fission reactors (which are still more environment-friendly than coal or oil), but this is just crap.

[Fenna]

Thanks for the science class... this does make me feel better a little...

No problem, I've just done a nuclear and particle physics exam on this... It helps to talk about what you are studying :D


Yes, look at all the disasters fission reactors have caused the US over the last 50 years.
All the horrors, mutants and devastation. Yet here they are again setting up an even safer power source, the world is doomed for sure.

Exactly, fusion is safer than fission, and look how many accidents fission has caused. OK there was Chernobyl but reactors in the West are designed differently to the Chernobyl one.



**** happens

Artificial intelligence is no match for human stupidity


Yeah, too true :D.....


Anyway, fusion is great :D

Definitely the way forward.

About it being the first, I don't really know much about the history of fusion but I do remember there was a fusion reactor in the UK called JET.

There was a couple of problems with this such as the length of time it could operate and contamination of the reactants. I presume these must have been sorted by now.

[TheKiwi]

Yeah, Greenpeace had to spout some (unusual) bull**** about this being a waste of money since we should be looking for alternative energy sources.

Greenpeace hate the idea of cheap clean energy, as then we wouldn't need to listen to them about how we must live our lives like they do. (Like I do already rofl )

[Ballistic]

Brilliant !! It's about time this started to pick up !! woot Fusion is definately the way forward !!

[BlackRain]

France Will Host World's First Nuclear-Fusion Reactor

Definitely, not the first Fusion Reactor. There were others before it.

Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

http://www.pppl.gov/projects/pages/tftr.html

The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) operated at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) from 1982 to 1997. TFTR set a number of world records, including a plasma temperature of 510 million degrees centigrade -- the highest ever produced in a laboratory, and well beyond the 100 million degrees required for commercial fusion. In addition to meeting its physics objectives, TFTR achieved all of its hardware design goals, thus making substantial contributions in many areas of fusion technology development..