Construction of French Fusion Reactor Underway

GarryFre writes "It has been said that fusion is 50 years away for quite a few decades, but now work has actually been started. Digging has begun in the south of France on the planned site for France's first fusion reactor. A tokomak is a torus shaped magnetic confinement device which is necessary to withstand the temperatures associated with fusion that are so high, solid materials can't hold them. As such, the building represents the future core of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.) It will be interesting to see if it takes 50 years to build it."

Comments

Oh well...

[KingAlanI]

Guess we can't go fusion now either, since that would entail imitating the cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
(That was sarcasm...I hope. :P)

Re:Oh well...

[Starteck81]

We'll do but we'll call it "Freedom Fusion".

Re:Oh well...

[ArsonSmith]

I LOVE IT!! I can't wait until I can power my AC with it and say it's Freesion in here.

Re:Oh well...

[Iron Condor]

I would have thought "Mr. Fusion".

That's Monsieur Fusion to you ...

French?

[Anonymous Coward]

Freedom Fusion.

Le Daily News - 9/15/2060

[drcheap]

LE DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, September 15, 2060

The country formerly known as France has successfully performed its first and last Fusion reaction.

Re:Le Daily News - 9/15/2060

[Mikkeles]

One can only hope!

Re:Professor Farnsworth begs to differ . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

Good news nobody! The fusion reactor super exploded.

Re:The sad thing is that

[sakdoctor]

If the the repulsive force of squabbling bureaucrats could be overcome using conference-room confinement, the resulting release of energy would power the world forever.

Design parameters for a fusion reactor

[viking80]

Design parameters for a fusion reactor:
1. Shielding: 10m of water or similar as well as magnetic shielding
2. Energy density 10kW/m2
3. Politics: Not in my backyard

Conclusion:
Sun
1. Atmosphere and earth magnetic field: perfect
2. perfect almost anywhere
3. 150 million km away: perfect

Re:Design parameters for a fusion reactor

[vux984]

3. 150 million km away: perfect

Meh. For you maybe. But what if it explodes? Probably destroy the whole planet from that close. No way I'm going to support this environmental disaster waiting to happen. I'm lobbying to have it shut down or at least moved so that it orbits the earth from further out. ;)

Re:Quote

[Nulifier]

Obligatory

Re:50 Years Away?

[SleazyRidr]

See, once you achieve fusion, it messes with the Tachyon fields and sends you back in time. The trick is to reverse the polarity of your own Tachyon fields, so they cancel out with the Tachyon fields of the fusion reactor. You'll probably be killed in the process, but the rest of humanity will get to enjoy fusion power for the rest of eternity.

Re:French? Well, kind of.

[tenex]

I can imagine the scientists and technocrats from: China, the EU, India, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the USA, sitting in a room pondering the question of where to put this new fusion reactor--the biggest and baddest one ever built.

China: "India is the best place..."
India: "Heck no, we reckon Russia is better..."
Russia: "Nyet... How about Texas..."
(room grows silent)
In unison: Lets put it in "France"

France (EU): "Thank you, this quite the compliment..."

Re:T-O-K-A-M-A-K

[internettoughguy]

Actually, it's not hyphenated.

Re:ITER will be one of the many Tokamaks.

[IICV]

The above AC is clearly lying about being a plasma physicist - he probably just read this book over the weekend and now understands everything. Literally.

Re:French? I think not.

[eplawless]

...and don't call me Frances.

Re:probably not first post anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

ps. though AC, also a plasma physicist working on tokamaks

Yeah well... I'm the queen of England. Rule, Britannia! rule the waves!