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The
next fusion reactor ITER will push nuclear research and |
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Countries are Arguing Where the First Artificial Star will be Ignited By Martin Uhlir To emulate the process which makes stars to shine and gain limitless amount of energy from ordinary sea water. This is the goal of the physicists who are trying to harness thermonuclear fusion. Few years ago, during the time of pure skepticism, when many scientists became depressed, hopeless and left the field, a hope emerged: it was discovered that it was possible to generate transport barriers in plasma in the magnetic vessels called tokamaks. The barriers prevent heat from escaping from the turbulent plasma. In spite of all the previous doubts, suddenly it seemed that after all we may be able to ignite a first artificial star on the Earth in future. So where are we in this effort now? In the weekly science supplement of the Czech daily Lidove noviny (June 26, 2004), physicist Jan Mlynar answers the question. He talks about the intention to build the big international experimental tokamak ITER. He explains what is the current situation in the negotiations between the EU and Japan, two potential candidates for the site. He reminds that we experienced a similar stalemate in the 1970s, when Germany and Britain negotiated where the tokamak JET, currently the biggest tokamak in the world, would be build. At that time, only an "intervention of hell" (as he says) solved the situation: terrorists hijacked a German aircraft and Britain offered help. Germany then withdrew its plan to build JET and gave priority to Britain. So will we need a hijack of a Japanese or European aircraft? Jan Mlynar, who currently works at JET, hopes negotiators will solve the puzzle without another "intervention of hell". Dr. Jan Mlynar, a 38 years old Czech physicist, also explains what is the worst technical obstacle in the fusion research now: it is the question how to create materials able to face the extremely hot plasma. It would be too expensive if we would have to change this "first wall" each month - a future power plant would lose money in such a case. Will the future thermonuclear power plant be as environmental friendly as it is described now? This is another question Dr. Mlynar answers. He also talks about if ITER, which is supposed to generate 10times as much energy as it will receive, will reach ignition. It is also interesting to note that the Czech Republic has its own tokamak CASTOR, which is hosted by the Institute of Plama Physics (http://www.ipp.cas.cz). Castor is quite small, it is not possible to get real fusion inside it. It is an experimental device, in which plasma is heated "only" to millions of degrees in order to make some special measurements. Using this tokamak, physicists for example study and model processes and turbulences in the periphery plasma. They also look for ways how to heat plasma through electric current generated by an electromagnetic wave "broadcasted" by a special antenna. |
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Martin Uhlir is science editor with the Czech daily Lidove noviny in Prague, Czech Republic, and is responsible for the Saturday's science supplement. Lidove noviny
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