Korea is set to unveil its first nuclear fusion reactor, KSTAR (Korea Super Tokamak Advanced Research) at Daejeon, next week. The reactor cost 328 million US dollars and took 12 years to become reality.
If all goes well, the first sustained fusion reaction will occur in the second half of 2008.
Last but not the least;
KSTAR uses superconducting materials identical to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and has been built with local technology
It’s good that Korea is involved in fusion research, but does Korea have to remind everyone else that whatever it builds is built with “local technology?”
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Every single piece of technology in this peninsula is imported, except turtle boats, and who uses those anymore?
If all goes well, the first sustained fusion reaction will occur in the second half of 2008.
And if not….will Taejeon be ‘fused’ into non-existance or what?
It’s not a fusion reactor, but a research facility. If nuclear reactors existed, we could get clean nuclear energy, without the radioactive waste that nuclear fission reactors produce.
The Korea Herald said, “They said if all goes well, plasma is to be created for sustained operations in the second half of 2008.”
We already know how to produce plasma. Problems with nuclear fusion are:
a) It requires more energy than it produces. And
b) Maintaining the reaction.
Planning to produce a nuclear fusion reactor by 2008 is like planning to create faster-than-light spaceships by 2008.
More power to them. If it works well, that’s awesome. I just hope they put more thought and attention into the reactor than they did into the web page.
Fusion power refers to power generated by nuclear fusion reactions. In this kind of reaction, two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus and release energy. In a more general sense, the term can also refer to the production of net usable power from a fusion source, similar to the usage of the term “steam power.” Most design studies for fusion power plants involve using the fusion reactions to create heat, which is then used to operate a steam turbine, similar to most coal-fired power stations as well as fission-driven nuclear power stations.
The largest current experiment, JET, has resulted in fusion power production slightly less than the power put into the plasma, maintaining an output of 16 MW for a few seconds. In June 2005, the construction of the experimental reactor ITER, designed to produce several times more fusion power than the power put into the plasma over many minutes, was announced. The production of net electrical power from fusion is planned for DEMO, the next generation experiment after ITER.
Anyone who wants to read more about nuclear fusion can go to where yourbutt cut-and-pasted from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power
from the general atomics website (web.gat.com).
Is Val Kilmer starring in the movie?
It’s always local technology, isn’t it? Just like all of their tanks and airplanes. My theory is that it’s strictly for domestic consumption; surely they don’t think foreigners really believe that shite.
Here is something that miht be better faster cheaper:
Bussard Fusion Reactor
Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion
It has been funded:
Bussard Reactor Funded
I have inside info that is very reliable and multiply confirmed that validates the above story. I am not at liberty to say more. Expect a public announcement from the Navy in the coming weeks.
The above reactor can burn Deuterium which is very abundant and produces lots of neutrons or it can burn a mixture of Hydrogen and Boron 11 which does not
The implication of it is that we will know in 6 to 9 months if the small reactors of that design are feasible.
If they are we could have fusion plants generating electricity in 10 years or less depending on how much we want to spend to compress the time frame.
BTW Bussard is not the only thing going on in IEC. There are a few government programs at the University of Wisconsin and at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana among others.
… and North Koreans are busily updating the targeting information on their Daepodong missiles …
Someone should let the marketing guys working in Korea that attaching phrases like “world-best” sounds childish to native speakers.