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Star Power: ITER and the International Quest for Fusion Energy
A concise and accessible explanation of the science and technology behind the domestication of nuclear fusion energy.
Nuclear fusion research tells us that the Sun uses one gram of hydrogen to make as much energy as can be obtained by burning eight tons of petroleum. If nuclear fusion—the process that makes the stars shine—could be domesticated for commercial energy production, the world would gain an inexhaustible source of energy that neither depletes natural resources nor produces greenhouse gases. In Star Power, Alan Bécoulet offers a concise and accessible primer on fusion energy, explaining the science and technology of nuclear fusion and describing the massive international scientific effort to achieve commercially viable fusion energy.
Bécoulet draws on his work as Head of Engineering at ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) to explain how scientists are trying to “put the sun in a box.” He surveys the history of nuclear power, beginning with post–World War II efforts to use atoms for peaceful purposes and describes how energy is derived from fusion, explaining that the essential principle of fusion is based on the capacity of nucleons (protons and neutrons) to assemble and form structures (atomic nuclei) in spite of electrical repulsion between protons, which all have a positive charge. He traces the evolution of fusion research and development, mapping the generation of electric current though fusion.
The ITER project marks a giant step in the development of fusion energy, with the potential to demonstrate the feasibility of a nuclear fusion reactor. Star Power offers an introduction to what may be the future of energy production.
Nuclear fusion research tells us that the Sun uses one gram of hydrogen to make as much energy as can be obtained by burning eight tons of petroleum. If nuclear fusion—the process that makes the stars shine—could be domesticated for commercial energy production, the world would gain an inexhaustible source of energy that neither depletes natural resources nor produces greenhouse gases. In Star Power, Alan Bécoulet offers a concise and accessible primer on fusion energy, explaining the science and technology of nuclear fusion and describing the massive international scientific effort to achieve commercially viable fusion energy.
Bécoulet draws on his work as Head of Engineering at ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) to explain how scientists are trying to “put the sun in a box.” He surveys the history of nuclear power, beginning with post–World War II efforts to use atoms for peaceful purposes and describes how energy is derived from fusion, explaining that the essential principle of fusion is based on the capacity of nucleons (protons and neutrons) to assemble and form structures (atomic nuclei) in spite of electrical repulsion between protons, which all have a positive charge. He traces the evolution of fusion research and development, mapping the generation of electric current though fusion.
The ITER project marks a giant step in the development of fusion energy, with the potential to demonstrate the feasibility of a nuclear fusion reactor. Star Power offers an introduction to what may be the future of energy production.
216 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 23, 2022
ایتر، راکتور آزمایشی گداخت هستهای، شاید پرهزینهترین آزمایش علمی تاریخ باشد. این پروژهی غولآسای بینالمللی در سال 2013 در فرانسه افتتاح شد و طبق برنامه تا سال 2025 کامل میشود. با موفقیت این پروژه مسیری* باز میشود که منبعی نو، پاک و عملا تمامنشدنی از انرژی را در اختیار انسان خواهد گذاشت. این چشمانداز آنقدر مسحورکننده هست که کشورهای زیادی** را ترغیب کند به سرمایهگذاری در این پروژه. این کتاب روایت موجزی است به زبان الن بیکوله، سرپرست واحد مهندسی ایتر، از تاریخ 60 سالهای که انسان به عملیاتِ کموبیش دیوانهوار رام کردن انرژی ستارگان خطر کرده. به گفتهی او اکثریت بزرگی از پژوهشگران حوزهی گداخت هستهای متفقالقولند که ایتر سنگ بنایی حتمی برای ساخت راکتور گداخت است
*از قضا واژهی "ایتر" در زبان لاتین به معنی مسیر یا جاده است
**همانطور که حدس میزنید ایران جزو این کشورها نیست
پینوشت: از آنجا که امروزه بدگویی از انرژی هستهای ورد زبانهاست (بیش از همه بهخاطر دروغپراکنی رسانهها علیه آن در جهت حفاظت از منافع صاحبان صنایع سوختهای فسیلی و صاحبان صنایع انرژیهای تجدیدپذیر، موسوم به انرژیهای "سبز")، برای خواندن نوشتهای دربارهی آن، از نگاه علمی و غیرایدئولوژیک، جسارتا سری بزنید به اینجا
جهان به انرژی هسته ای نیاز دارد و ما نباید از آن هراس داشته باشیم
March 25, 2022
This book was a disappointment - more on that in a moment. The aim is to give us the picture of the development of nuclear fusion as a power source leading up to the latest and best incarnation of a fusion reactor, ITER. In principle, fusion offers us the best option to balance out the variability of wind and solar - an on-demand energy supply that is green and doesn't produce the same level of nuclear waste as fission. But the timescales are mind-numbing.
Fusion energy has already been in development for over 60 years. ITER, a project that was first conceived 34 years ago is expected to fully operational by 2035 with experiments continuing for 20 years. This would take it to 67 years from first conception. And ITER isn't even a prototype for a working power station - that's the next stage. In part, Alain Bécoulet does give us a picture of why things have taken so long - because, for example, handling the lively, ultra hot plasma at the heart of a magnetic confinement reactor has proved far trickier than was first anticipated. But even so, given the urgency of getting away from fossil fuels, speed is of the essence, yet Bécoulet hardly mentions the many competitors to the ITER route (the equivalent of only mentioning NASA and omitting SpaceX for example), and doesn't explain why those in the mainstream programme haven't done far more parallel development to get things moving quicker.
The detail on the problems with handling plasma (and how it wasn't anticipated) is the highlight of this book - I haven't seen such detail elsewhere. But unfortunately, Star Power falls down as a readable text. There are three broad issues - the use of language (which may be influenced by the book being translated from the original French), huge tracts of vagueness interspersed with unnecessary technical detail, and lack of an effective structure to carry the narrative through.
A random example of the clunky prose and vagueness (not the worst) would be 'Everything would turn out well in this best of turbulent worlds if efforts to achieve optimal plasma performance were not limited by nature - to wit, by certain fundamental mechanisms at work involving currents, pressures, and magnetic fields. We can approach this vexed field of endeavour by calling to mind a few scenes familiar from high-school science classes.'
In the end, although I wanted to know what this book has to say, I didn't enjoy reading it. I ploughed on regardless, but it wasn't a great experience.
Fusion energy has already been in development for over 60 years. ITER, a project that was first conceived 34 years ago is expected to fully operational by 2035 with experiments continuing for 20 years. This would take it to 67 years from first conception. And ITER isn't even a prototype for a working power station - that's the next stage. In part, Alain Bécoulet does give us a picture of why things have taken so long - because, for example, handling the lively, ultra hot plasma at the heart of a magnetic confinement reactor has proved far trickier than was first anticipated. But even so, given the urgency of getting away from fossil fuels, speed is of the essence, yet Bécoulet hardly mentions the many competitors to the ITER route (the equivalent of only mentioning NASA and omitting SpaceX for example), and doesn't explain why those in the mainstream programme haven't done far more parallel development to get things moving quicker.
The detail on the problems with handling plasma (and how it wasn't anticipated) is the highlight of this book - I haven't seen such detail elsewhere. But unfortunately, Star Power falls down as a readable text. There are three broad issues - the use of language (which may be influenced by the book being translated from the original French), huge tracts of vagueness interspersed with unnecessary technical detail, and lack of an effective structure to carry the narrative through.
A random example of the clunky prose and vagueness (not the worst) would be 'Everything would turn out well in this best of turbulent worlds if efforts to achieve optimal plasma performance were not limited by nature - to wit, by certain fundamental mechanisms at work involving currents, pressures, and magnetic fields. We can approach this vexed field of endeavour by calling to mind a few scenes familiar from high-school science classes.'
In the end, although I wanted to know what this book has to say, I didn't enjoy reading it. I ploughed on regardless, but it wasn't a great experience.
January 29, 2024
Decent introduction to the science and engineering (mostly engineering) of nuclear fusion. I gave me a taste of the issues involved but the exposition was not great. Kind of a missed opportunity. Adding a bunch of diagrams to explain how this works and what the key challenges are would have been so much more helpful. Some paragraphs and chapters were crying out for an image or a diagram. Instead it was just a wall of words.
But the content is informative, helpful, and easy to read. It gives me an impetus to learn more. I mean, the tech uses 150 million degree temps, so it's literally awesome.
But the content is informative, helpful, and easy to read. It gives me an impetus to learn more. I mean, the tech uses 150 million degree temps, so it's literally awesome.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews