From: Dr. Blake Nelson (bnelson301@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jul 19 2003 - 18:55:20 EDT
It seems that we are always 40 years away from fusion
as a potential energy source. ;)
It seems to me as a casual observer that all the focus
has been on achieving a self-sustaining reaction that
gives out more power than the power input, but what is
the status of trying to come up with an effective way
to capture the vast amount of energy kicked out as
neutrons (IIRC)?
It always seemed to me as someone who knows only
enough about it to be dangerous (and probably horribly
ill-informed) that actually harnessing the energy
produced by a fusion reaction was going to be the most
problematic part... (unless you use fusion to make
fissile material for fission reactors) that and the
fact that neutrons getting kicked out make the reactor
vessel brittle and radioactive to such an extent that
unlike fission reactors, the vessel will have to be
swapped out periodically (that's not a cheap prospect
either).
--- Jay Willingham <jaywillingham@cfl.rr.com> wrote:
> Hydrogen strikes me as a junk science/green
> politician's answer.
>
> Where are we in the development of fusion as an
> energy source?
>
> Jay Willingham
BTW, if you want green energy from hydrogen, you have
to produce hydrogen by using fission to make it out of
water. The current process of making hydrogen through
a chemical reaction with natural gas kicks out a ton
of greenhouse gasses (but is still cheaper than using
fission and water since the hydrolosis is a more
energy intensive process). IIRC, the amount of
greenhouse gas kicked out by the process currently
used to make hydrogen out of stuff like natural gas at
least equals, if not exceeds, the greenhouse gasses
kicked out by refining petroleum into gasoline and
burning it in cars.
So, in that respect, unless the greens are willing to
have a rapproachment with nukes, hydrogen is NOT a
green alternative to gasoline.
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