[nebelbon]

Invest money for research and development of Nuclear Fusion Power Stations

Petition to invest and develop Nuclear Fusion Power Stations

This petition...

Nuclear Fusion Power Stations are sustainable, emission free, waste free and the way forward in the production. It uses 'light' atoms that are not dangerous and don't produce any radioactive waste and once they have been started they can theoretically be creating power for the rest of time. This petition wants to ensure the guaranteed investment into the fast and important development of the Nuclear Fusion Power Station.

[mevidek]

Would require a change in the wording, however, as controversial as it may be, I agree.

[Aj12]

Can we have a number? As far as I knew nuclear fusion research requires billions and has been about 10 years from a breakthrough for the past 50 years.

[dknt]

(Original post by Aj12)
Can we have a number? As far as I knew nuclear fusion research requires billions and has been about 10 years from a breakthrough for the past 50 years.

Reminds me of what my Physics teacher said; he was in uni and read an article saying nuclear fusion was 50 years away from being commercially viable. 40 years later, while teaching our class he read an article saying nuclear fusion was 50 years away from being commercially viable...

That's progress people!

[Aj12]

(Original post by dknt)
Reminds me of what my Physics teacher said; he was in uni and read an article saying nuclear fusion was 50 years away from being commercially viable. 40 years later, while teaching our class he read an article saying nuclear fusion was 50 years away from being commercially viable...

That's progress people!

Heard things to that effect quite a lot when it comes to fusion. Amazing technology, potential to change the world but it just seems to be out of our reach despite the billions put into it.

[nebelbon]

(Original post by Aj12)
Can we have a number? As far as I knew nuclear fusion research requires billions and has been about 10 years from a breakthrough for the past 50 years.

It can be quite expensive but the outcome would be huge. Cheap unlimited electricity, no need for fossil fuels or expensive wind farms. There have been many breakthroughs recently. The JET system sustained a plasma for 3 minutes, the reason they stopped was because they were only funded to see if it was possible.

[nebelbon]

(Original post by mevidek)
Would require a change in the wording, however, as controversial as it may be, I agree.

The only negative impacts would be the initial cost.

[nebelbon]

(Original post by Aj12)
Heard things to that effect quite a lot when it comes to fusion. Amazing technology, potential to change the world but it just seems to be out of our reach despite the billions put into it.

My physics teacher said that this year the EU spent as much money on research and development as the people of Europe spent on 'fancy' ringtones; in his own words :L

[Aj12]

(Original post by nebelbon)
It can be quite expensive but the outcome would be huge. Cheap unlimited electricity, no need for fossil fuels or expensive wind farms. There have been many breakthroughs recently. The JET system sustained a plasma for 3 minutes, the reason they stopped was because they were only funded to see if it was possible.

But how much money is going to need to be plunged into this to get a viable result? Is a viable result even possible. I know that 3 minutes is an amazing achievement but how likely is it it will ever increase?

[nebelbon]

(Original post by Aj12)
But how much money is going to need to be plunged into this to get a viable result? Is a viable result even possible. I know that 3 minutes is an amazing achievement but how likely is it it will ever increase?

In excess of 250 million. However with the facilities we have, we'd only need to upgrade. Also after it has been perfected ,which is likely within the next 20 years with more research, we wouldn't need to spend money on any current 'green' solutions as they wouldn't be needed.

It is a monumental achievement, and physicists have said that it is very likely that they could sustain for much longer. The JET facility could have stayed on for longer but they stopped because of funding.

The only hurdle to jump over at the moment is cost.

[Aj12]

(Original post by nebelbon)
In excess of 250 million. However with the facilities we have, we'd only need to upgrade. Also after it has been perfected ,which is likely within the next 20 years with more research, we wouldn't need to spend money on any current 'green' solutions as they wouldn't be needed.

It is a monumental achievement, and physicists have said that it is very likely that they could sustain for much longer. The JET facility could have stayed on for longer but they stopped because of funding.

The only hurdle to jump over at the moment is cost.

In all honestly for something like this I'm not really sure 250 million is that much, I'll vote for this. (if only it made a difference in the real world )
Got any links on this I'd be interested in reading up on it.

[Observatory]

Despite popular belief, fusion has made enormous progress toward a working reactor:



This graph shows improvement in two key parameters for achieving fusion, relative to those required for a net energy production. The main problem is becoming economics, and practicality of extracting the heat as electricity, rather than the viability of fusion as such. With sufficient funding, it will become a reality, very probably but not certainly in our lifetimes. As a current-generation solution to CO2 emissions, it is not useful, but in the long term is the best plausible alternative.

[nebelbon]

(Original post by Aj12)
In all honestly for something like this I'm not really sure 250 million is that much, I'll vote for this. (if only it made a difference in the real world )
Got any links on this I'd be interested in reading up on it.

Thanks for your support, i hope it makes it into the real world , and sure here are some links:

How it works:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/fusion-reactor.htm

Some projects:
http://www.ccfe.ac.uk/
http://www.efda.org/

[nebelbon]

(Original post by Observatory)
Despite popular belief, fusion has made enormous progress toward a working reactor:



This graph shows improvement in two key parameters for achieving fusion, relative to those required for a net energy production. The main problem is becoming economics, and practicality of extracting the heat as electricity, rather than the viability of fusion as such. With sufficient funding, it will become a reality, very probably but not certainly in our lifetimes. As a current-generation solution to CO2 emissions, it is not useful, but in the long term is the best plausible alternative.

Completely agree, much better than the useless and pathetic wind turbines/solar panels
Also it's not as if we will run out of Hydrogen and its isotopes :L

[abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz]

oh you so silly

[rcummins1]

Let the French or the Americans spend the money researching it, then just steal their plans once they make it economically viable.

Until then, we should really be pressing forward with fission. But sadly the scaremongering lefties would rather build a load of wind turbines.

[nebelbon]

(Original post by rcummins1)
Let the French or the Americans spend the money researching it, then just steal their plans once they make it economically viable.

Until then, we should really be pressing forward with fission. But sadly the scaremongering lefties would rather build a load of wind turbines.

Fission can't really progress any more, it could only be made slightly more efficient and safe, fusion is the way forward for us. We have some facilities now so we should progress rather than leaving it to others. I agree wind turbines are a waste of time, space, money and wind...

[Student2806]

Fusion power station and fast...development don't really go together. They were saying in the 70s that commercial energy generation by fusion would be occurring by the turn of the 21st Century. Now they're saying it could still be another century away. Despite continued huge investment, commercial fusion generation is still beyond our technological limits.
By all means let's continue funding R&D, but let's not jump the gun and throw money at something that's still beyond us.

[Birchington]

Fusion has potential and requires further R and D funding but I would advocate prioritising investment in tidal power. This is a massive untapped energy supply and we already have the technology to source it. Fusion still requires massive investment and development.

[Architecture-er]

I agree, there will be a need for a mediating power source between fossil fuels and fission, whether that's sustainable or fission power, I don't know. But priority needs to go to shifting the source of our country's power to home-sourced methods. The photovoltaic industry still needs boosting, despite the government's attempts to boost sales in that area. Once we've made sure that we're not going to die when the oil becomes ridiculously expensive, then we can put all our efforts into fusion power. There should still be more capital put into the R&D of the concept, though.