DOCSLIB.ORG

April 2019 Newsletter

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
April 2019 Newsletter Vol. 48, No. 2 April 2019 PHYSICS SOCIETY A Publication of The Forum on Physics and& Society A Forum of The American Physical Society From the Editor he articles in this issue include essays by two recent award contributions. Suggestions winners. Neil Johnson is the recipient of the Forum’s 2018 and articles should be sent BurtonT award, while Robert Kleinberg is the 2018-19 APS to me, except for book re- Distinguished Lecturer on the Applications of Physics. I am views, which should go to very grateful that they agreed to contribute to this Newsletter. the reviews editor directly We have additional articles on “Voodoo Physics” and on the ([email protected]). Con- social applications of complexity. tent is not peer reviewed I saw some of you in Boston and received many suges- and opinions given there are tions for this Newsletter. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to the author’s, not necessarily make it to Denver. mine, nor the Forum’s. We We are continuing to expand our media presence. Sev- are very open as to what is appropriate. Controversy is eral of the Forum sponsored APS meeting talks were video Oriol T. Valls, the current P&S recorded and the files (or information on how to get them) will good. newsletter editor, is a Condensed be posted at the Forum’s web site. Please send suggestions to Oriol Matter theorist. our Media Editor, Tabitha Colter, at [email protected]. Oriol T. Valls Contributions from our readership and their friends University of Minnesota [email protected] are always welcome, as they are suggestions for invited IN THIS ISSUE EDITOR'S COMMENTS 13 Voodoo Fusion Energy, Daniel L. Jassby 16 Complexity and Emergence – Essential Physics for Our FORUM NEWS Troubled Times, Lars English 2 FPS Invited Speaker Sessions at April 2019 APS Meeting REVIEWS 3 Fellowship and Award Nominations 18 Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between ARTICLES Astrophysics and the Military, Neil deGrasse Tyson 19 Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms 3 How Physics Helps Lift the Lid on Online Extremism Hannah Fry Neil F. Johnson 6 The Transition from Academic Physics to the Wider World Robert L. Kleinberg FORUM NEWS FPS Invited Speaker Sessions at April 2019 APS Meeting (Some of the titles are tentative) Attracting Young People to Science and Science Policy (Session B07, April 13, 10:45 - 12:33, co-sponsored with New Energy Technologies & Policies FECS - chair: Kevin Ludwick, FECS) (Session Q07, April 15, 10:45 - 12:33 - chair: Richard Wiener) • Meredith Drosback (AAAS SciLine, Chair APS Cong • Dan Kammen (UC Berkeley) - New Energy Technologies Fellow selection committee, former APS Cong Fellow) and New Energy Policies - Opportunities in Public Engagement: Sharing Your • Adilson Motter (Northwestern) - North American Power- Scientific Expertise with Policymakers and the Media Grid Network: Failures and Opportunities • David Maiullo (Rutgers) - Physics for All: Using Physics • Amory Lovins (Rocky Mountain Institute) – Integrative Demonstrations to Both Excite and Educate the Public Design for Radical Energy efficiency in Science and Science Policy • Brian Jones (CO State U) - A Warm Planet in a Cold New Challenges to International Science Collaborations Universe: Making Climate Change Concepts Accessible (Session C07, April 13, 13:30 - 15:18 - chair: Anna Quider) (and Acceptable) to a Wide Audience • Amy Flatten (APS Director of International Affairs; staff, APS Task Force on Expanding International Engagement) Detecting and Protecting the Earth from Earth-Crossing - Long-term Strategic Planning for APS International Asteroids Activities (Session X05, April 16, 10:45 - 12:33, co-sponsored with • Bill Colglazier (Science Advisor to the Secretary of State DAP - chair: David Gerdes, UMich) in the Obama administration, now at AAAS Center for • Amy Mainzer (JPL) - Finding Near Earth Objects from Science Diplomacy) - Challenges and Opportunities for Space with NEOWISE and NEOCAM International Science Collaboration over the Next Ten • Emily Kramer, (JPL) - Finding Near Earth Objects from Years the Ground with ZTF and LSST • Karla Hagan (2015 APS congressional fellow and current • Lindley Johnson - (NASA Planetary Defense Office) Senior Policy Advisor for Science and Innovation at the - Defending Earth From Asteroids British Embassy in DC) - The US-UK Science Collabora- tion Landscape: Status and Opportunities for the Future FPS Prize Session (Session H06, April 14, 10:45 - 12:33 - chair: Joel Primack) • Shirley Jackson (RPI) - Burton Forum Award Speech • FPS Luncheon - 12:45 - 1:30 Secrecy and Espionage in Science (Session D06, April 13, 15:30 - 7:18, co-sponsored with FHP chair: Paul Cadden-Zimansky, FHP) • Alex Wellerstein (Stevens Institute of Technology) - Secrecy and the Control of Science and Technology: Lessons from History and Sociology • Audra Wolfe - Freedom’s Laboratory: The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science • Doug O’Reagan (MIT) - Allied Scientific Espionage and the Exploitation of German Technology after the Second World War 2 • April 2019 PHYSICS AND SOCIETY, Vol. 48, No.2 Fellowship and Award Nominations lease remember that the Forum can nominate every year ship Award “to recognize outstanding accomplishments by a certain number of its members to become APS Fellows. physicists in promoting the use of physics for the benefit of PleaseP send suggestions to Joel Primack [email protected]. society in such areas as the environment, arms control, and People nominated should have made significant Physics and science policy”. In addition, the Nicholson Medal was estab- Society, as well as Physics research, contributions. lished in 1994 by both the Forum and the Division of Plasma Also the Forum gives two special awards, the Burton Physics “to recognize the humanitarian aspect of physics and Forum Award, “to recognize outstanding contributions to the physicists.” Please see aps.org/units/fps/awards/index.cfm for public understanding or resolution of issues involving the details and nomination procedures. interface of physics and society,” and the Leo Szilard Lecture- ARTICLES How Physics Helps Lift the Lid on Online Extremism Neil F. Johnson everal companies will soon be launching satellites aimed particles (i.e. people) that don’t do the same things under the at bringing Internet access to every possible place on same circumstances and are adaptive. And it is a system that theS planet. Even before that happens, approximately half is continually being perturbed by a shifting environment of the world’s population (~3 billion people) are already using news, rumors, presidential tweets and other world events. social media, with the dominant platform being Facebook. But it is precisely because of this that Physics can provide Each Facebook user is typically a member of more than one new insights into its understanding. Starting with an article in Facebook group and a follower of more than one Facebook Science in 2016 and subsequent papers in Physical Review, page. Facebook and its international competitors such as our research has shown that the key ingredient in the evolu- VKontakte (vk.com), purposely design their online features tion of online extremism lies in the particular many-body to help bring together people into relatively tight-knit clusters correlations that define these tight-knit online clusters – in so that they can focus on some shared interest or purpose, e.g. particular, the online pages and groups. Though media atten- jazz fans visiting Washington D.C. But such online clusters tion has focused on lone-wolf narratives, and it may very well can be used for bad as well as good. They can bring together be that a single individual carries out such an attack, such people who are against science, e.g. against vaccination individuals are likely to have had some prior online exposure programs. They can also serve to aggregate individuals with to pro-extremist narratives through access to these clusters a potential interest in extremism or hate against a particular (i.e. pages and/or groups). So, the correct focus for under- sector of society, e.g. individuals who are anti-immigration standing future attacks likely lies in these cluster dynamics. or anti-Semites. There are plenty of recent examples where After all, any physicist knows that it would be wrong to pin online narratives helped incite individuals to commit violent the boiling of water on what a single water molecule is doing, acts – from Charlottesville, Parkland, Orlando, Maryland, or on isolated molecules scattered across the system. Instead Washington D.C., Pittsburgh and Tallahassee through to Man- the answer lies in their many-body behavior, specifically the chester, London and mainland Europe. Detecting who among clustering of correlations. In the everyday world, taking apart the 3 billion online users will ever carry out a real-world every single car on the planet would never help you explain attack, sounds like looking for a needle in a haystack – but how clusters of drivers interact to cause traffic jams, or why is actually worse since prior to any attack each ‘needle’ may traffic jams emerge universally in large cities. be effectively indistinguishable from any other straw of hay. Indeed, this message about the importance of develop- In Physics terms, this new online world is one of the larg- ing a physics perspective on this problem, now seems to est and most complex ‘many-body’ system in existence. It is be resonating outside of physics to other disciplines and far from equilibrium. It has many interacting particle types also policy-makers. Despite the tendency of the media to (i.e. humans, algorithms, bots) that can now interact instanta- focus on ‘lone wolf’ actors, social scientists are now coming neously through a complex online web, and with interaction round to agree with this collective view (see B. Schuurman strengths that are independent of spatial separation. It features PHYSICS AND SOCIETY, Vol. 48, No.2 April 2019 • 3 et al.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • TAE Technologies G Round Introduction July 2019
    TAE Technologies G Round Introduction July 2019 PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL 1 Contents TAE Technologies Overview 3 TAE Fusion 10 TAE Life Sciences 13 Disclaimer 17 Contact Information 18 PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL 2 TAE Technologies Overview PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL 3 “I would like to see the development of fusion power to give an unlimited supply of clean energy and a switch to electric cars.” Stephen Hawking watch video online PRIVILEGEDPRIVILEGED AND AND CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL4 4 Vast fusion-incubated IP portfolio primed for commercialization Enables disruptive high-growth businesses Game-changing targeted radiation cancer therapy Revolutionary electric drivetrain platform for road, rail, air and sea Advanced particle accelerators for fusion, POWER GENERATION POWER DISTRIBUTION medicine and more • Fusion R&D • Microgrids • Confinement licensing • Energy storage/buffering • Plasma control • Power switching • Consulting services • Power factor correction PRIVILEGEDPRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL 5 Investment Opportunity Synopsis TAE is commercializing its intellectual property portfolio • Inflection point in TAE’s evolution • After over 1,100 patents filed and 20 years of R&D – starting to commercialize our technologies and realize accelerated revenues • Multiple tiered opportunities that drive significant value creation around • Fusion power generation technology ($7 trillion cumulative market out to 2040) • Targeted radiation oncology ($30+ billion/yr market for head & neck tumors w/ 6% CAGR) • Mobility technology (e.g. $20+ billion/yr EV drivetrain market w/ 19% CAGR) • Power management technologies (e.g. $10+ billion/yr data center power market w/ 7% CAGR) PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL 6 Board, management and investors well-matched to opportunity Drawing on leadership from industry, technology and finance Strong and engaged board including: • Former U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • First Simulations of Turbulent Transport in the Field-Reversed Configuration C
    Lau DOI:10.1088/1741-4326/ab1578 EX/P6-37 First Simulations of Turbulent Transport in the Field-Reversed Configuration C. K. Lau1, D. P. Fulton1, J. Bao2, Z. Lin2, T. Tajima1,2, and L. Schmitz1,3 The TAE Team 1TAE Technologies, Inc., Foothill Ranch, CA 92688, USA 2University of California Irvine, CA 92697, USA 3University of California Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA Corresponding Author: C. K. Lau, [email protected] Experimental progress by TAE Technologies has led to successful suppression of MHD insta- bilities in field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasmas using C-2U and C-2W devices. Resultant particle and energy confinement times are on the order of several milliseconds, governed by mi- croturbulence driven transport processes. Understanding these mechanisms is essential towards improved confinement and a viable FRC fusion reactor. Experimental measurements of low frequency density fluctuations in C-2 have shown that fluctuations of the FRC core and SOL exhibit distinct qualities. In the SOL, fluctuations are highest in amplitude at ion-scale lengths and exponentially decrease towards electron-scale lengths. In the core, fluctuations are overall lower in amplitude with a dip in the ion-scale lengths and a slight peak in electron-scale lengths. Using the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC), local linear simulations of drift-wave instabilities have found qualitatively similar trends. The SOL is linearly unstable for a wide range of length scales and pressure gradients. On the other hand, the core is shown to be robustly stable due to the stabilizing FRC traits of short field-line connection lengths, radially increasing magnetic field strength, and the large finite Larmor radius (FLR) of ions.
    [Show full text]
  • Footnotes for ATOMIC ADVENTURES
    Footnotes for ATOMIC ADVENTURES Secret Islands, Forgotten N-Rays, and Isotopic Murder - A Journey into the Wild World of Nuclear Science By James Mahaffey While writing ATOMIC ADVENTURES, I tried to be careful not to venture off into subplots, however interesting they seemed to me, and keep the story flowing and progressing at the right tempo. Some subjects were too fascinating to leave alone, and there were bits of further information that I just could not abandon. The result is many footnotes at the bottom of pages, available to the reader to absorb at his or her discretion. To get the full load of information from this book, one needs to read the footnotes. Some may seem trivia, but some are clarifying and instructive. This scheme works adequately for a printed book, but not so well with an otherwise expertly read audio version. Some footnotes are short enough to be inserted into the audio stream, but some are a rambling half page of dense information. I was very pleased when Blackstone Audio agreed wholeheartedly that we needed to include all of my footnotes in this version of ATOMIC ADVENTURES, and we came up with this added feature: All 231 footnotes in this included text, plus all the photos and explanatory diagrams that were included in the text. I hope you enjoy reading some footnotes while listening to Keith Sellon-Wright tell the stories in ATOMIC ADVENTURES. James Mahaffey April 2017 2 Author’s Note Stories Told at Night around the Glow of the Reactor Always striving to beat the Atlanta Theater over on Edgewood Avenue, the Forsyth Theater was pleased to snag a one-week engagement of the world famous Harry Houdini, extraordinary magician and escape artist, starting April 19, 1915.1 It was issued an operating license, no.
    [Show full text]
  • TAE Milestone Press Release
    Fusion Energy Milestone from TAE Technologies Validates Path to Cost-Competitive Carbon-Free Baseload Energy Company Raises Additional $280M for Reactor-Scale Demonstration Facility “Norman” Platform Outperforms Goals; Generates Stable High-Temperature Plasmas Additional Funds Will Support Final Step Toward Commercialization Foothill Ranch, CA -- April 8, 2021 -- TAE Technologies, the world’s largest private fusion energy company, has announced a landmark fusion technology milestone by producing stable plasma at 50M+ degrees Celsius in a proprietary compact reactor design that can scale to competitive fusion-generated power. This milestone furthers confidence in TAE’s path to commercialization, and has aided the company in raising $280M in additional funding. When combined with prior rounds, TAE has now raised over $880M from some of the world’s most sophisticated investors. The latest financing is the direct result of TAE achieving its most recent scientific milestone on the path to delivering carbon-free baseload energy from the Hydrogen-Boron (aka H-B11 or p-B11) fuel cycle, the most abundant and environmentally friendly fuel source on Earth, capable of sustaining the planet for millennia. This success crucially confirms a key differentiator of TAE’s patented technology: a positive relationship between plasma confinement and reactor temperature, meaning that the company’s compact linear configuration improves plasma confinement as temperatures rise. By generating such stable high temperature plasmas, TAE has now validated that the company’s unique approach can scale to the conditions necessary for an economically viable commercial fusion power plant by the end of the decade. A portion of the capital will be used to initiate development of a demonstration facility called “Copernicus” that will operate well in excess of 100 million degrees Celsius to simulate net energy production from the conventional Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) fuel cycle.
    [Show full text]
  • IYNC2016 and Beyond 2 3
    IYNC BULLETIN International Youth Nuclear Congress SPECIAL EDITION #12 September 2016 www.iync.org IYNC2016 and beyond 2 3 Editorial Dear IYNC community, Some innovating solutions are already in development. Small modular reactors (SMRs), hybrid renewable-nuclear energy solutions, and accident tolerant fuel (ATF) are good As the newly elected IYNC President examples. Innovation will also have to happen in other areas, such as, licensing, waste I would like to welcome you to the 12th management and decommissioning. Successful projects will result in multi-disciplinary IYNC Bulletin. This issue marks the be- and multi-cultural initiatives requiring partnerships between various experts and cultures. ginning of a new term for IYNC. A new With its network of 49 countries, IYNC has the potential to support innovation in nuclear leadership team was elected in July 2016 energy. for the period 2016 – 2018. Innovation will be the focus of this term. Innovating for IYNC2016 was also a unique opportunity to discuss the future of IYNC. The first IYNC IYNC but also supporting innovation in Alumni event took place in Hangzhou where several ideas were discussed. A need to nuclear science and technology. innovate within IYNC was also identified. In this new term, we will work to develop IYNC activities beyond the bi-annual congress. As an example we plan to develop an innova- There is a growing consensus that the global warming mitigation objective of limiting to a tion contest, which you will hear more about soon. Other priorities will have to do with 2°C rise in global temperatures cannot be met without nuclear energy.
    [Show full text]
  • Small-Scale Fusion Tackles Energy, Space Applications
    NEWS FEATURE NEWS FEATURE Small-scalefusiontacklesenergy,spaceapplications Efforts are underway to exploit a strategy that could generate fusion with relative ease. M. Mitchell Waldrop, Science Writer On July 14, 2015, nine years and five billion kilometers Cohen explains, referring to the ionized plasma inside after liftoff, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft passed the tube that’s emitting the flashes. So there are no the dwarf planet Pluto and its outsized moon Charon actual fusion reactions taking place; that’s not in his at almost 14 kilometers per second—roughly 20 times research plan until the mid-2020s, when he hopes to faster than a rifle bullet. be working with a more advanced prototype at least The images and data that New Horizons pains- three times larger than this one. takingly radioed back to Earth in the weeks that If that hope pans out and his future machine does followed revealed a pair of worlds that were far more indeed produce more greenhouse gas–free fusion en- varied and geologically active than anyone had ergy than it consumes, Cohen and his team will have thought possible. The revelations were breathtak- beaten the standard timetable for fusion by about a ing—and yet tinged with melancholy, because New decade—using a reactor that’s just a tiny fraction of Horizons was almost certain to be both the first and the size and cost of the huge, donut-shaped “tokamak” the last spacecraft to visit this fascinating world in devices that have long devoured most of the research our lifetimes. funding in this field.
    [Show full text]
  • On TAE's Path to Fusion
    On TAE’s Path to Fusion A Private-Sector Perspective Michl Binderbauer | President & CTO | TAE Technologies Committee on aCOMMITTE Strategic ON Plan A STRATEGIC for US Burning PLAN FOR Plasma U.S. BURNING Research, PLASMA General RESEARCH Atomic, | FEBRUARY Feb 26-28, 2018 2018 1 Agenda • Concept, Motivation and History • Key Past Program Accomplishments • Current Status and Next Steps • Overall Perspective Forward – Public-Private Partnership COMMITTE ON A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR U.S. BURNING PLASMA RESEARCH | FEBRUARY 2018 2 TAE Concept Advanced beam driven FRC • High plasma β~1 • compact and high power density • aneutronic fuel capability • indigenous kinetic particles • Tangential high-energy beam injection • large orbit ion population decouples from micro-turbulence • improved stability and transport • Simple geometry • only diagmagnetic currents • easier design and maintenance • Linear unrestricted divertor • facilitates impurity, ash and power removal COMMITTE ON A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR U.S. BURNING PLASMA RESEARCH | FEBRUARY 2018 3 Goals, Issues and Initiatives for FRC Research FESAC TAP report (2008) & ReNeW (2009) Long-range mission • Develop compact (high-β) reactor without toroidal field coils or a central solenoid ITER era goal • Achieve stable, long-pulse keV plasmas with favorable confinement scaling Key issues • Is global stability possible at large s (a/ρi ≥ 30) with low collisionality? • What governs energy transport and can it be reduced at high temperature? • Is energy-efficient sustainment possible at large-s and with good confinement? • Theory and simulation challenges (high-β, kinetic effects, transport) Suggested possible initiatives • Build larger facility with rotating magnetic fields or neutral beam injection (NBI) • Develop comprehensive diagnostics suite (profiles, fluctuations, …) COMMITTE ON A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Fusion Public Meeting Slides-03302021-FINAL
    TitleDeveloping Lorem a Regulatory Ipsum Framework for Fusion Energy Systems March 30, 2021 Agenda Time Topic Speaker(s) 12:30-12:40pm Introduction/Opening Remarks NRC Discussion on NAS Report “Key Goals and Innovations Needed for a U.S. Fusion Jennifer Uhle (NEI) 12:40-1:10pm Pilot Plant” Rich Hawryluk (PPPL) Social License and Ethical Review of Fusion: Methods to Achieve Social Seth Hoedl (PRF) 1:10-1:40pm Acceptance Developers Perspectives on Potential Hazards, Consequences, and Regulatory Frameworks for Commercial Deployment: • Fusion Industry Association - Industry Remarks Andrew Holland (FIA) 1:40-2:40pm • TAE – Regulatory Insights Michl Binderbauer (TAE) • Commonwealth Fusion Systems – Fusion Technology and Radiological Bob Mumgaard (CFS) Hazards 2:40-2:50pm Break 2:50-3:10pm Licensing and Regulating Byproduct Materials by the NRC and Agreement States NRC Discussions of Possible Frameworks for Licensing/Regulating Commercial Fusion • NRC Perspectives – Byproduct Approach NRC/OAS 3:10-4:10pm • NRC Perspectives – Hybrid Approach NRC • Industry Perspectives - Hybrid Approach Sachin Desai (Hogan Lovells) 4:10-4:30pm Next Steps/Questions All Public Meeting Format The Commission recently revised its policy statement on how the agency conducts public meetings (ADAMS No.: ML21050A046). NRC Public Website - Fusion https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/advanced/fusion-energy.html NAS Report “Key Goals and Innovations Needed for a U.S. Fusion Pilot Plant” Bringing Fusion to the U.S. Grid R. J. Hawryluk J. Uhle D. Roop D. Whyte March 30, 2021 Committee Composition Richard J. Brenda L. Garcia-Diaz Gerald L. Kathryn A. Per F. Peterson (NAE) Jeffrey P. Hawryluk (Chair) Savannah River National Kulcinski (NAE) McCarthy (NAE) University of California, Quintenz Princeton Plasma Laboratory University of Oak Ridge National Berkeley/ Kairos Power TechSource, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • On TAE's Path to Fusion
    On TAE’s Path to Fusion A Private-Sector Perspective Michl Binderbauer | President & CTO | TAE Technologies Committee on aCOMMITTE Strategic ON Plan A STRATEGIC for US Burning PLAN FOR Plasma U.S. BURNING Research, PLASMA General RESEARCH Atomic, | FEBRUARY Feb 26-28, 2018 2018 1 Agenda • Concept, Motivation and History • Key Past Program Accomplishments • Current Status and Next Steps • Overall Perspective Forward – Public-Private Partnership COMMITTE ON A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR U.S. BURNING PLASMA RESEARCH | FEBRUARY 2018 2 TAE Concept Advanced beam driven FRC • High plasma β~1 • compact and high power density • aneutronic fuel capability • indigenous kinetic particles • Tangential high-energy beam injection • large orbit ion population decouples from micro-turbulence • improved stability and transport • Simple geometry • only diagmagnetic currents • easier design and maintenance • Linear unrestricted divertor • facilitates impurity, ash and power removal COMMITTE ON A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR U.S. BURNING PLASMA RESEARCH | FEBRUARY 2018 3 Goals, Issues and Initiatives for FRC Research FESAC TAP report (2008) & ReNeW (2009) Long-range mission • Develop compact (high-β) reactor without toroidal field coils or a central solenoid ITER era goal • Achieve stable, long-pulse keV plasmas with favorable confinement scaling Key issues • Is global stability possible at large s (a/ρi ≥ 30) with low collisionality? • What governs energy transport and can it be reduced at high temperature? • Is energy-efficient sustainment possible at large-s and with good confinement? • Theory and simulation challenges (high-β, kinetic effects, transport) Suggested possible initiatives • Build larger facility with rotating magnetic fields or neutral beam injection (NBI) • Develop comprehensive diagnostics suite (profiles, fluctuations, …) COMMITTE ON A STRATEGIC PLAN FOR U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Controlled Nuclear Fusion, Energetic Utopia
    International Journal of Applied Research 2016; 2(7): 224-230 ISSN Print: 2394-7500 ISSN Online: 2394-5869 Impact Factor: 5.2 Controlled nuclear fusion, energetic utopia IJAR 2016; 2(7): 224-230 www.allresearchjournal.com Received: 02-05-2016 Leandro Meléndez Lugo and José Arturo Aguilar Jiménez Accepted: 03-06-2016 Leandro Meléndez Lugo Abstract Instituto Nacional de Through a comprehensive analysis, accentuated by theoretical scientific and economic aspects, using a Investigaciones Nucleares, basic physical approach about compressed air, an observation about magnetic field plasma compression Centro Nuclear de México, is made. This observation, about the attempt to use the magnetic field confinement in controlled nuclear Departamento de Física, La fusion, is related to the fact, aside from several technological and economic problems, that a magnetic Marquesa, Ocoyoacac, C.P. field cannot properly confine ionized gas; in the best case it can only constrict the movement of ions 52750 Edo. De Mexico and electrons. The analysis results leave little confidence that the conventional method intended to achieve the goal of controlled nuclear fusion could succeed. Also facing this complex scenario plenty José Arturo Aguilar Jiménez of technical and economic difficulties; we try to offer an alternative method that could provide hope for Universidad Autónoma de the commercial use of nuclear fusion reactions. Yucatán Facultad de Ingeniería Ingeniería Física Keywords: nuclear fusion, magnetic confinement, tokamaks, cold fusion, energy production 1. Introduction On 8 May 1946, Sir George Paget Thomson and Moses Blackman applied for a patent for a device based on electrical discharges in gases that would supposedly constitute a nuclear fusion reactor.
    [Show full text]
  • The Regulation of Fusion – a Practical and Innovation-Friendly Approach
    The Regulation of Fusion – A Practical and Innovation-Friendly Approach February 2020 Amy C. Roma and Sachin S. Desai AUTHORS Amy C. Roma Sachin S. Desai Partner, Washington, D.C. Senior Associate, Washington, D.C. T +1 202 637 6831 T +1 202 637 3671 [email protected] [email protected] The authors want to sincerely thank the many stakeholders who provided feedback on this paper, and especially William Regan for his invaluable contributions and review of the technical discussion. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 II. THE STATE OF FUSION INNOVATION 3 A) An Introduction to Fusion Energy 3 B) A Rapid Growth in Private-Sector Fusion Innovation 4 III. U.S. REGULATION OF ATOMIC ENERGY - NOT ONE SIZE FITS ALL 7 A) The Foundation of U.S. Nuclear Regulation - The Atomic Energy Act and the NRC 7 B) The Atomic Energy Act Embraces Different Regulations for Different Situations 7 1. NRC Frameworks for Different Safety Cases 8 2. Delegation of Regulatory Authority to States 9 IV. THE REGULATION OF FUSION - A PRACTICAL AND INNOVATION- FRIENDLY APPROACH 10 A) Fusion Regulation Comes to the Fore, Raising Key Questions 10 B) A Regulatory Proposal That Recognizes the Safety Case of Fusion and the Needs of Fusion Innovators 11 1. Near-Term: Regulation of Fusion Under the Part 30 Framework is Appropriate Through Development and Demonstration 11 2. Long-Term: The NRC Should Develop an Independent Regulatory Framework for Fusion at Commercial Scale, Not Adopt a Fission Framework 12 V. CONCLUSION 14 1 Hogan Lovells I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Fusion, the process that powers the Sun, has long been seen Most fusion technologies are already regulated by the NRC as the “holy grail” of energy production.
    [Show full text]
  • 1. This Country's Lapua Movement Succeeded in Banning Communist
    Fall 2008 ACF-Format Set #1 Round 7 Tossups 1. This country’s Lapua Movement succeeded in banning Communist activities, and a 1918 civil war saw Gustav Mannerheim’s government forces emerge victorious. The Continuation War, which saw this country aid Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union, was a sequel to the Winter War in which the Soviet Union preemptively invaded this country. The 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe led to some “Accords” named after this country’s capital. For 10 points, name this country led by Tarja Halonen, whose major city is Helsinki. ANSWER: Finland 2. In a namesake reaction, some of them can react with the bases of methyl ketones to create carboxylic acids. The heaviest example is the rarest naturally occurring element on Earth, and the deficiency of another member is often the cause of a goiter. Normally featuring odd-numbered oxidation states, 2 5 these elements all have an outer shell electron configuration of ns np (N S 2 N P 5). For 10 points, name these elements that lack one electron in their outer shell, examples of which include bromine, chlorine, and fluorine. ANSWER: halogen s [or Group 7A ; or Group 17 ] 3. Skye Sweetnam ponders "maybe I should change my world" while contemplating this action, which "could be the cure." The initiator of this action strikes after the singer lets his guard down, causing the singer to lament "why do I do these things I do to myself" in a Something Corporate song. This action's recipient was the singer's "experimental game" in another song, which notes that this action "felt so wrong, it felt so right," and notes that it is accentuated by the recipient's cherry Chapstick.
    [Show full text]