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Applied physicist here. The other thing is: Existing fusion concepts need to use a reaction between Deuterium and Tritium, otherwise it's just infeasible. Deute
by jnxx 6y ago
Applied physicist here. The other thing is: Existing fusion concepts need to use a reaction between Deuterium and Tritium, otherwise it's just infeasible. Deuterium exists in nature and can be produced with some form of isotope separation.
Tritium, however, does NOT exist in nature, and can only be conceivably produced in three ways:
1. Inside thermonuclear bombs
2. In heavy-water reactors, e.g. CANDU design, which requires Uranium, so it is not fuel-independent and totally dependent on nuclear fission technology. Getting Tritium that way is also extremely, extremely expensive.
3. possibly, in a breeding blanket of a fusion reactor. This makes fusion technology reliant on breeding reactors which is much more complicated and has many completely unsolved questions in the materials part. Also, existing fission-breeding reactors are also less safe, for example, like the Japanese Monju plant, which was cooled with liquid sodium, a highly reactive metal, which got incensed in a fire. Fusion breeder reactors will probably also require something like sodium cooling because of the high energy densities required.
And the existing research projects like ITER have not even started to address these issues - they are purely plasma physics experiments.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monju_Nuclear_Power_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monju_Nuclear_Power_Plant
- DennisP 6y agoSPARC uses molten FLiBe salt as both coolant and breeding blanket.
- willis936 6y ago>And the existing research projects like ITER have not even started to address these issues - they are purely plasma physics experiments. Section 3.2 Test Blanket Module (TBM) Testing Program in ITER https://www.iter.org/doc/www/content/com/Lists/ITER%20Technical%20Reports/Attachments/9/ITER_Research_Plan_within_the_Staged_Approach_levIII_provversion.pdf https://www.iter.org/doc/www/content/com/Lists/ITER%20Techni... Look even closer at the fusion energy research community and you will find a lot of work has already gone into this problem. Assuming physicists sit on their thumbs is a bad bet.
- RobertoG 6y ago>> "Tritium, however, does NOT exist in nature" Maybe I don't understand properly, but I'm watching the video linked in a previous comment (1) and around the minute 9:30 professor White says that "what comes into the plant is actually deuterium and lithium". It seems he is saying that you need only an initial quantity of Tritium and then Helium and Lithium is used to created Tritium again. I suppose that it's what you refer as "breeding". He explain it as it's not a big deal. (1) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24632653 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24632653
- Obi_Juan_Kenobi 6y agoThat's the breeding option, making tritium from lithium. Lithium can absorb a neutron and become helium and tritium.