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changabula
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China's Fusion Reactor -- Would it be Better for the Planet?

Chinese scientists made their first successful test of a thermonuclear fusion reactor. The scientists called the device "the first of its kind in operation in the world,"

Will this elminate the hold over people that oil has? Most of us can barely wait for the day we can all say we don't need oil anymore.

And will it make the planet better?

[ Last edited by changabula at 2007-1-27 12:02 AM ]

2007-1-16 11:20 PM

changabula
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Tests show 'artificial sun' is reliable

HEFEI, China, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A series of tests run by Chinese scientists on an experimental thermonuclear reactor have found "the artificial sun" is a reliable energy generating process.

Designed to replicate the sun's energy generating process, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak fusion reactor recently garnered positive results in tests being conducting at China's Institute of Plasma Physics, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

"The new tests show the reactor is very reliable, and we can repeat the experiments," institute official Wu Songtao said.

With tests set to continue until Feb. 10, the experiments will reveal exactly how far the project is from its final goal of creating plasma that can last for 1,000 seconds while giving off its own energy.

While many have disputed the project's ability to create such an energy source, Xinhua said many scientists maintain such a fusion reactor could lesson China's energy crisis by providing cleaner endless energy at a significantly lower cost.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070115-13344600-bc-china-artificialsun.xml

2007-1-16 11:26 PM

changabula
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Good to see the Chinese are now in the forefront of a lot of Scientific research.

People have always looked down at China by churning out that crap that the Chinese are not creative compared to those in the West. This is despite the fact that there are a lot of Chinese scientists in Western countries doing fundamental research and in the forefront of their fields.

It is good that these scientists are being attracted back to the Motherland.

2007-1-17 06:54 AM

chinadaily (chinadaily)
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China to attract 200,000 back

BEIJING Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- China hopes to entice 200,000 overseas Chinese to return home in the period 2006-2010 by setting up science centers where they can carry out their work, said the Ministry of Personnel.

Statistics from 2005 show that barely a quarter of the Chinese scholars who have studied aboard have returned to China.

China wants to attract leading Chinese scholars who are familiar with international practice and can help lead research in certain fields back home, according to the Ministry.

The government is offering more favorable policies for returned scientists who want to launch start-ups by creating some 50 special technological incubation centers over the five-year period.

By the end of 2005, more than 930,000 Chinese have studied abroad, with about 230,000 returning to the country over the last decades.

2007-1-17 10:44 AM

lobsang
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Reply #2 changabula's post

Thank you Changabula for showing the address of the website. It has opened up a new channel through which I am able to read up on new scientific developments.
Kudos to China Daily too. You do attract SOME good & sensible readers to your BBS, making it possible for people of common interest to share their views. Thank you too, China Daily.

2007-1-18 07:45 AM

k_rajakumar
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Fusion reactor

China should use this new nuclear technology.More research needs to be done on nuclear fusion together with others.Really it will be the energy of the future,given its high safety values.

2007-1-18 10:49 PM

chinaimport
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It does not work, didn't you watch Spider man 2. hahahahaha

2007-1-19 08:31 AM

mencius (亞聖孟子)
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QUOTE:

Originally posted by changabula at 16-1-2007 15:20
Will this elminate the hold over people that oil has?

This particular reactor will probably not. Fusion has "always" been x years around the corner, but each experiment so far hasn't been that significant. I remember back in the 90s similar expectations were cropping up from JET - still haven't got very much further. JET itself did create electricity, though not on a commerically viable scale - it's hoped that an industrial-sized reactor would make enough.

I think if there's any breakthrough, it's going to come from ITER. International co-operation is the way forward.

QUOTE:

Originally posted by k_rajakumar at 18-1-2007 14:49
More research needs to be done on nuclear fusion together with others.

Someone needs to do some research on the ITER project.

[ Last edited by mencius at 2007-1-19 12:46 AM ]

2007-1-19 08:40 AM

tongluren (tongluren)
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When Was the Last Time

When was the last time an international science and engineering project actually succeed beyond expectation? I can't think of one.

Even the Human Genome project, a relatively simple one if you think of it - it was merely repetitious grunt work - and still the many nations of biologist cannot beat the private company in coming up with the complete genome first.

By the time the ITER tokamak gets up and running, China's would likely be generating electricity already.

2007-1-19 08:46 AM

mencius (亞聖孟子)
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The real story

QUOTE:

Originally posted by tongluren at 19-1-2007 00:46
By the time the ITER tokamak gets up and running, China's would likely be generating electricity already.

As I have already pointed out, the trick isn't to produce electricity - it's to do so on a commerically viable scale.

Also this is what really happened last year, in regards to early reports on the reactor.

http://space.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19225723.100

QUOTE:

It sounded too good to be true - and it was. When the Chinese news agency Xinhua announced on 29 September that researchers had initiated thermonuclear fusion in a brand-new reactor, news organisations worldwide ran with the story. "During the experiment, deuterium and tritium atoms were forced together at a temperature of 100 million Celsius," Xinhua reported.

There was just one problem: nothing of the kind took place. "The reports were totally wrong," Jiangang Li, director of the Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei, Anhui province, told New Scientist. The Chinese researchers had, for the first time, managed to inject a plasma of ionised hydrogen into the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), a doughnut-shaped machine designed to confine super-hot plasmas magnetically, and the plasma sustained currents of 250,000 amps for up to 3 seconds. But no attempt was made to introduce deuterium or tritium into the plasma, so no fusion can have occurred.

Not everyone swallowed the stories. "I didn't believe the online reports," says Chris Carpenter at the Joint European Torus (JET) fusion research centre in the UK. "Fusion is always something that causes a lot of media hype because people really want it to happen."

Fusion is possible, but no one has even got close to mastering it yet. ITER has the biggest chance of success because it has the funding and scale - even then it could easily come up with nothing.

[ Last edited by mencius at 2007-1-19 12:54 AM ]

2007-1-19 08:48 AM

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lobsang
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Reply #10 mencius's post

You write : "As I have already pointed out, the trick isn't to produce electricity - it's to do so on a commerically viable scale."

Are you sure work on fusion anywhere in the world has reached the stage where commercial viability is being looked at?

The barrier so far, as I understand it, has been to try and increase the interval of sustained fusion, which in Changbula's post indicates is aimed at the goal of 1000 seconds in the current tests, which if achieved, would be a great advance. Please not he says the test is to be carried out until 10 February, and he does not say it has been achieved.

So should we wait and see what the results are like before showing a "guru's knowledge" on a subject where no nation, including yours and mine, has any achievements/success to show?

2007-1-19 02:34 PM

#11

correction
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No point to debate with a racist Nazi's animal!

Nazi's animal wouldn't like to see China making any scientific breakthrough or successes in any of her scientific endeavours! To them non-Nazi's animals are not entitled to claim any successes ahead of them!.

2007-1-19 02:51 PM

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chairman (chairman)
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Tomorrow comes fast in China..

Image Attachment: CHINA SUN 2.jpg (2007-1-19 07:38 PM, 47.5 K)

2007-1-19 07:38 PM

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changabula
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QUOTE:

Originally posted by mencius at 2007-1-19 08:48

Fusion is possible, but no one has even got close to mastering it yet. ITER has the biggest chance of success because it has the funding and scale - even then it could easily come up with nothing.

"ITER has the biggest chance of success because it has the funding and scale" - the Chinese should not put all their eggs in one basket!

Whilst its good that they are collaborating on international projects, they should carry out their own research as well.

2007-1-22 06:05 PM

#14

mencius (亞聖孟子)
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QUOTE:

Originally posted by changabula at 22-1-2007 10:05

Whilst its good that they are collaborating on international projects, they should carry out their own research as well.

Absolutely. If China was able to make some advances it could at the very least help make ITER more successful.

QUOTE:

Originally posted by lobsang at 19-1-2007 06:34
Are you sure work on fusion anywhere in the world has reached the stage where commercial viability is being looked at?

Maybe I was a little vague. I didn't mean that it is possible to research commercial fusion now, but that it is necessary to increase the scale of the projects so that it can become possible in the future, which is what ITER is doing. From some articles I have read, the relatively small size of the reactors has been blamed for not progressing research much further. Though the Chinese reactor could break that trend.

[ Last edited by mencius at 2007-1-22 12:51 PM ]

2007-1-22 08:41 PM

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renegadedog9
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Good for China. Let's see if, if it can develop fusion, finally most of its people will be sitting in warm houses all through the winter, instead of sitting shivering like they currently do.

2007-1-23 03:31 PM

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baersworth
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If the advancement is done by US or any Western country, those people will not say things like "if there's any breakthrough, it's going to come from ITER". Why Chinese cannot make any breakthrough ? White superior theory ? Evolve please.

2007-1-24 02:59 PM

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changabula
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QUOTE:

Originally posted by baersworth at 2007-1-24 14:59
If the advancement is done by US or any Western country, those people will not say things like "if there's any breakthrough, it's going to come from ITER". Why Chinese cannot make any b ...

It does not matter what anyone says because we will continue to make breakthroughs from now on!

They could either applaud us or continue to put us down.

Its the same with us being able to knock satellites out. Some are saying that it was a low form of technology and nothing incredible -- it was only like throwing a stone at something!

But these advancements are taking place at a blistering pace -- one which is unstoppable! Goodness knows where it will all end. One thing is certain and that is mankind will benefit from the spin-off from these. We always try to help others with what we have got.

2007-1-24 06:53 PM

#18

mencius (亞聖孟子)
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QUOTE:

Originally posted by baersworth at 24-1-2007 06:59
If the advancement is done by US or any Western country, those people will not say things like "if there's any breakthrough, it's going to come from ITER". Why Chinese cannot make any breakthrough ? White superior theory ? Evolve please.

Maybe you should "evolve" yourself, by not assuming that anyone who doesn't think China is likely to make a breakthrough holds that view because it is China, rather than another country, that is conducting the research.

I think that China has as much chance of making a major breakthrough on fusion as any other country currently running an independent project.

Time for you to update your racial-profiling index.

2007-1-25 03:16 AM

#19

bobodudu
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No matter what type new resource will emerge, oil and coal will be replaced after decades only.
The storage is limited one.

www.businessgiftware.biz

2007-1-25 09:33 AM

#20

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