News From the World of Nuclear Fusion

A major upgrade to the DIII-D tokamak fusion reactor operated by General Atomics in San Diego will enable it to develop fusion plasmas that can burn indefinitely. Researchers installed a movable, 30-ton particle-beam heating system that drives electric current over a broad cross section of the magnetically confined plasma inside the reactor's vacuum vessel. Precise aiming of this beamline allows scientists to vary the spatial distribution of the plasma current to maintain optimal conditions for sustaining the high temperature plasmas needed for fusion energy production. _Eurekalert

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Physicists in San Diego have removed a stumbling block to sustained plasma fusion in tokamak reactors. This development should allow plasma fusion specialists to move ahead in their quest for essentially infinite energy.

The so-called "H-mode" where turbulence ceases and a tokamak becomes much more efficient was discovered as long ago as the 1980s, but working out how to make it happen - and keep happening, sometimes a tokamak will flick in and out of H-mode hundreds of times a second - has been difficult.

... The problem was that, until work began in San Diego, nobody really understood how and when turbulence ceased as surface flow built up. But Dr Lothar Schmitz and his crew are pleased to report that their method of using microwave radar guns - not dissimilar to police speed guns aimed into the torus using focusing mirrors - has given them a good handle on what's going on.

"We found that the turbulent eddies on the surface of the plasma produced surface flows that eventually grow large enough to shred the eddies, turning off the turbulence," says Schmitz. "Much like the population of predators and prey find a balance in the wild, we find that the plasma flow and the plasma turbulence reach an equilibrium in the tokamak plasma." _Register

Alan Boyle provides a nice overview on the state of the art of various approaches to fusion, including laser ignition, magnetic confinement, and assorted other types

Brian Westenhaus looks at news from the Bussard IEC fusion front

Gamma ray laser fusion technology has even been novelised recently by a Los Alamos scientist

Ecatnews.net covers the unpredicatble developments in "cold fusion" or LENR -- low energy nuclear reactions

And Brian Wang's Nextbigfuture provides nice overall coverage of most large energy topics

The field of fusion is long past due for significant breakthroughs. When they begin coming, they may arrive too quickly to assimilate at once.

Babcock and Wilcox Moves Ahead With mPower Small Modular Reactor

B&W mPower SMR
Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) are poised to change the world of power and energy -- if the US government Nuclear Regulatory Commission will do its job of fairly licensing the safe, clean, new nuclear reactors. Instead, developers of newer, safer reactors must jump through hoops, spend exorbitant fees, and wait many years or decades before the fat and lazy NRC will get off its ass and get to work.

One US company -- Babcock and Wilcox -- is apparently willing to spend the money, do the work, and put in the many years it will take to get the NRC to perform like a responsible public service agency. Here is one of the important first steps the company is taking to get its SMR -- the mPower reactor -- licensed:

The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) and Generation mPower LLC
(Generation mPower) will dedicate the unique B&W mPower(TM) Integrated System Test (IST) facility in Bedford County, Va., at a ceremony today. The facility is located at the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research (CAER) at the New London Business & Technology Center.

The facility contains a prototype of the B&W mPower reactor that will undergo extensive testing to collect data to verify the reactor's design and safety performance in support of Generation mPower's ongoing licensing activities with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The primary technical features of the B&W mPower reactor are included in the IST, although the source of energy is electricity rather than nuclear.

The IST facility supports further development of the B&W mPower reactor technology that represents a new generation of smaller, scalable nuclear power plants. This world-class testing facility was made possible in part by generous support from the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission (TICRC), which provided more than $7 million in grants to support construction of the facility and the purchase of process equipment.

"B&W and Generation mPower appreciate the support from all of those involved as we establish this key element of the B&W mPower reactor program," said Brandon C. Bethards, President and Chief Executive Officer of B&W. "The IST facility will allow us the opportunity to demonstrate to the world the value of small modular reactors as a practical and affordable choice for nuclear power generation. Today's dedication marks another step in our progress toward commercializing small modular reactor technology."

Christofer Mowry, President of Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy. Inc. and Chairman of the Board of Generation mPower, said, "We continue to see tremendous interest from potential customers in the United States and abroad for our small modular reactor. Generation mPower is working to meet a need for a reliable, carbon-free power source that can be deployed at a new site or replace an aging facility in North America or overseas."

The multi-year testing program is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2011. _MarketWatch

B&W will be lucky to get its reactor licensed before the year 2020. One of the essential changes within the US government will be the ejection of the Obama regime and its energy starvation agenda, and the replacement of NRC Chairman Jaczko with a person of more expertise, integrity, and impartiality.

As long as Obama is not re-elected, reason is likely to win over leftist dieoff.org prejudice and energy starvation. Eventually, SMRs and other safe, advanced nuclear reactor designs, will receive their licenses, go into production, and change the global face of energy.