The Star Builders
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Epilogue—Can We Afford Not to Do Fusion?
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INDEX
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
acute radiation syndrome, 163
Alfvén, Hannes, 66
Allen, Paul, 12, 147
Artsimovich, Lev, 209
ASDEX tokamak, Garching, Germany, 184–85
Aston, Francis, 56–57
atomic bombs, 8, 54, 165, 166
atomic energy, 53–61 deuterium-tritium fusion reactions and, 55–56, 58–59
difficulty of getting net energy from reactions in, 61–64
Einstein’s early research in, 57–59
four fundamental forces of nature affecting, 59–61, 96
Rutherford’s heavy hydrogen (deuterium) experiment and, 54–55
splitting lithium atoms to produce energy experiment by, 53–54
atoms Aston’s approach to measuring masses of, 56
plasmas and, 64–65
Rutherford’s model of, 50–51, 52
structure of, 50–52
Balibar, Sébastien, 87
banana regime transport, 102
Banqiao Dam failure (1975), China, 181
batteries, and power transmission, 38
beam-target fusion, 149, 151
Bezos, Jeff, 12, 145
Big Bang, 72–73, 149, 186
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, 72–73
Bigot, Bernard, 187
Bikini Atoll, hydrogen bomb testing (1953) over, 161–64, 173–74
Binderbauer, Michl, 147–48
Bohr, Niels, 50
Butlin, Becky, 121
CANDU reactors, 89
carbon dioxide emissions net zero emission policy and, 28, 46, 199, 200
nuclear fusion and, 42
carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle, 79–80
Carling, Jonathan, 146 approach in competition among star builders used by, 145
batteries for electricity generation and, 38
coming of the fusion future and, 25–26
commercial energy and, 142–43
cost issues and scale and, 202
engineering background of, 21–22
fusion plant waste and, 179
net energy gain goal of, 144–45
public’s concerns about nuclear fusion reactor and, 168
risk factors in fission’s use and, 40–41
role of engineers and, 139
safety of nuclear fusion and, 167
saving the planet as motivation for, 27
spherical tokamaks and, 14
6
as star builder, 21–22, 23
Tokamak Energy’s management by, 21
Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, 50, 53, 54
Centre for Fusion Energy. See Culham Centre for Fusion Energy
CERN, 52, 66, 202
Chapman, Emma, 73–77
Chapman, Ian, 22, 212, 215 challenges for tokamaks’ delivery of energy and, 194–96, 200, 205
Chinese projects evaluated by, 192–93
claims and promises of private-sector companies and, 152–53
cleanup after nuclear fusion reactor site closure and, 179–80
coming of the fusion future and, 26
Culham Centre for Fusion Energy’s management by, 18–20
delivery cost issues and, 200, 205
deuterium-tritium fusion reactions and, 55–56, 185
fusion energy development timeline and, 45–46, 183, 185
fusion energy plants and, 199, 200
government funding and, 204
increase in need for energy and, 30
instabilities in tokamaks and, 103–4
JET machine use by, 107, 108
need for competition and, 24, 152
need for public-private partnerships and, 159–60
preventing catastrophic climate change using star power and, 41
public’s concerns about nuclear reactor use and, 168
radiation risk from fusion fuel and, 175–76
radiation safety precautions at NIF and, 178
saving the planet as motivation for, 27
spherical tokamaks and, 156–57
as star builder, 18–20
Chernobyl disaster (1986), Ukraine, 168, 172, 181
Chevron, 12
China fusion funding and new projects in, 14, 192–93, 204
fusion plans in, 192–93
inertial confinement fusion in, 14
ITER tokamak, Cadarache, France, and, 186–87
net energy gain goal and, 192–93
Shenguang III megajoule laser in, 14, 193
tokamaks in, 14, 184, 193
Chittenden, Jerry, 99
Clarke, Arthur C., 165
climate change energy addiction and, 28–29
energy crisis related to, 33–34, 42
IPCC’s deadline for averting, 33–34, 36, 45–46
net zero carbon emission goal and, 28, 46, 199, 200
nuclear fusion’s potential to combat, 28, 45, 46–47, 199–200
population growth and, 29–30
public demand for action against, 28
saving the planet as motivation for star builders by stopping, 27–28
coal. See also fossil fuels energy security and access to, 42–43
number of years left for supply of, if used exclusively, 43–44
public support for using, 40
Cockcroft, John fusion power plant development timeline and, 131–32
splitting lithium atoms to produce energy experiment by, 53–54, 61
ZETA machine of, 151, 184
cold fusion, 151
Committee on Climate Change, United Kingdom, 37–38
Commonwealth Fusion Systems, 24, 46, 141–42, 143, 144
controlled fusion reactors, 166, 214
controlled nuclear fusion, 8, 168, 216
Cowley, Sir Steve, 12, 17, 148, 201
crowdfunding, 150
Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, United Kingdom, 88–90 challenge of working with plasma physics at, 67
Chapman’s management of, 18–20
deuterium-tritium fusion reactions used by, 55, 62–63
financial backing for, 157
JET machine at. See Joint European Torus (JET) reactor
magnetic confinement fusion at, 24
radiation risk from fusion fuel at, 175–76
robotics technology at, 106, 212
spherical tokamak used by, 157, 196
Culham Science Centre, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, 87–88
Curie, Marie, 171
Daly, Nicola, 13
death stars. See end of life stars, and nuclear fusion
de Gennes, Pierre-Gilles, 87
DEMO power plant design, 197, 198, 199, 206
dense plasma focus, 149
deuterium energy security and access to, 43
fusion using, 51. See also deuterium-tritium fusion
JET’s use of, 94–95
Lawson’s equations on use of, 109–10
number of years left for supply of, if used exclusively, 44–45
Rutherford’s experiment and discovery of nuclear fusion using, 54–55, 61, 149
structure of, as hydrogen isotope, 51–52
deuterium-tritium fusion Chapman on, 55–56, 185
Culham Centre’s use of, 55, 62–63
energy released in, 55–56, 58–59
energy security and access to, 43
First Light Fusion’s use of, 63, 190
Herrmann on, 55–56
ITER tokamak, Cadarache, France, and, 186–87
neutrons in, 51–52, 55, 57–58
NIF’s use of, 62–63
number of years left for supplies in, 44–45
Tokamak Energy’s use of, 63
Didcot Power Station, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, 139
Dinan, Richard, 13, 144
Dyson, Freeman, 82–83, 214
Dyson spheres, 83
Eagle Nebula, 74
EAST tokamak, China, 14, 184, 193
Eddington, Arthur, 15, 49, 56–57, 71, 84
EDF Energy, 174
Einstein, Albert, 57–59, 62
electricity. See also energy generation Teller’s idea of using hydrogen bombs to generate, 115–16
electromagnetism, in nuclear reactions, 60–61, 62, 65, 66, 96
end of life stars, and nuclear fusion, 83–86
energy consumption climate change and addiction to, 28–29
estimates of future increases in, 30
exajoule as measurement of, 30
global annual growth in, 31, 34, 35
inequalities in, 29
number of years left for different types of fuel in, 43–45
population growth and, 29–30
energy crisis, 31–35 approaches to solving, 35–41
climate change consequences and, 33–34
fission power for, 39–41
fossil fuels use and, 31–33
limitations of renewable energy sources and, 36–39
public demand for action against, 28, 31
star power rescue plan with nuclear fusion for, 41–46
energy generation batteries for, 38
fossil fuels used for, 31–32, 34, 35
inequalities in energy consumption and need for increase in, 29
net zero carbon emission goal and, 28, 46, 199, 200
renewable energy sources for, 36–39, 46
Etzler, John Adolphus, 46
Euratom, 106–7
Eurofusion, 193
European Environment Agency, 176
European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), 52, 66, 202
European Union (EU) ITER tokamak, Cadarache, France, and, 186–87
JET project by, 88
Wendelstein 7-X stellarator and, 156
exajoule, as energy measurement, 30
Extinction Rebellion movement, 28
Fermi, Enrico, 161, 164
Fields Medal, 66
financial backers. See also funding claims and promises of private-sector companies and, 153, 154
TAE Technologies and, 147
First Light Fusion, 22–24, 133–38 deuterium-tritium fusion reactions used by, 63, 190
fusion energy development timeline and, 46
Hawker’s management of, 22–23
inertial confinement fusion at, 24, 135, 190, 197–98
Machine 3 electromagnetic rail gun at, 135–36
net energy gain goal and, 24, 138, 193
off-the-shelf technolog
y used by, 137, 146, 202
physical setting for, 134–35
pistol shrimp shock wave generation model for, 133–34
retention of patent rights by, 136–37
safety of working environment at, 180
star machine vision of, 138
target technology approach of, 135–37, 138
fission. See nuclear fission
fission-fusion hybrid reactors, 192
Fokker-Planck equation, 211n
Ford, Kenneth, 164
fossil fuels. See also coal; gas; oil costs of, 206–7
energy crisis and use of, 31–33
global annual growth in use of, 34, 35
number of years left for supply of, if used exclusively, 43–44, 210
reasons for dominance of, 31
France fission power in, 39–40
fusion funding by, 14
international agreement for ITER tokamak, Cadarache, 186–88, 191
Laser MegaJoule in, 14, 192
nuclear waste in, 174
tokamaks in, 184
Fritts, Charles, 46, 47
Fukushima nuclear accident (2011), Japan, 40, 168, 172, 181, 182
funding. See also financial backers British government and, 13, 157, 202
crowdfunding used for, 150
General Fusion and, 145
LPP Fusion and, 150
Tokamak Energy and, 139, 154
US government and, 13, 203, 204
fusion. See also inertial confinement fusion; magnetic confinement fusion; nuclear fusion two practical approaches to, 10
gas. See also fossil fuels energy security and access to, 42–43
number of years left for supply of, if used exclusively, 43–44
public support for using, 40
Gates, Bill, 1, 12
Geim, Andre, 158n
General Fusion, 24, 143, 145, 148, 193