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Thermonuclear Reactor To Use Coconut Shells
destinyland writes "A key component of a $10 billion nuclear fusion plant is vintage 2002 Indonesian coconut-shell charcoal. After a 20-year search, German researchers discovered that the coconut-shell charcoal is the best medium for 'adsorbing' waste byproducts sucked out of the thermonuclear reactor's vacuum chamber. In what will be the first fusion power facility that's commercially viable, magnetic fields will heat hydrogen isotopes to over 150 million degrees Centigrade. (Essentially, the super-hot plasma creates artificial stars.) As the article points out, 'It's not quite a Starship warp drive, but it does harness the power of the sun.'"
I like the Professor / He always saves their butts / He could build a nuclear reactor / From a couple' of coconuts
She said, "That guy's a genius" / I shook my head and laughed / I said, "If he's so fly, they tell me why / He couldn't build a lousy raft"
Coconut shell charcoal is one of the best available for making filters. Charcoal filters are nothing new folks most fish tanks use them as do most water purifiers and even gas masks. And this "May" be a practical fusion reactor but they have been saying that since the 1950s but I am staying hopeful.
Yet another light and fluffy pop science story with a funny little twist because it has coconuts in it... Yawn.....
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
The camera they used to take a picture of the inside of the Tokamak "during operation" at 150 million C
We have commercially viable fusion reactors now, yet the "news" is that it involves coconuts?
In what will be the first fusion power facility that's commercially viable...
Oh. I see. 3-5 years out then, just like LHC, battery breakthroughs, etc.
It's so freaking cool that there's going to be something man-made that will reach temperatures similar to the core of the sun. It's just... too cool. Hold on to your hat, god, 'cause here we come!
Ok, now back to mind-numbingly boring and disappointing reality...
weinersmith
I believe the term for harvesting the power of the sun is solar energy. And yes the Sun's energy is original from Fusion but under wildly different circumstances (crushing gravitational forces vs magnetic confinement).
So basically, they're using a giant Brita filter. (Brita filters are made from coconut shells) http://www.brita.net/uk/glossary_aquazine2.html?&no_cache=1&L=1&range=&lex=Activated+carbon
don't panic-- clowns can smell fear.
No. It produces neutrons, so the material of the reactor will gradually become radioactive.
That isn't necessarily true. The neutrons can be captured by something else (fluid barrier), or the inner jacket of the reactor can be composed of something that won't absorb neutrons (obviously they have to go somewhere, but that somewhere doesn't have to be structural) or that becomes something non-radioactive if it does absorb neutrons. Or the reactor could be designed so that the generated radioactives are something useful. The output of the reactor isn't necessarily radioactive free, but it can be "waste" free.
...comes from cows. No, really. There are millions of cows in India, and observant Hindus consider it sacrilege to harm them. So they mostly die from old age, and there are no religious issues connected with recycling their remains. And it turns out that their bones, being extremely brittle, make excellent charcoal.
I found this out from a newspaper story a few years back. It was in the news because a British water company was using cow charcoal in its filters. Local vegetarians were not pleased.