China's nuclear fusion machine just smashed Germany's hydrogen plasma record. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2016, 08:04:08 pm
content: http://www.sciencealert.com/china-s-nuclear-fusion-machine-just-smashed-germany-s-hydrogen-plasma-recordAlexander.

author: XOIIO
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2016, 08:27:36 pm
content: Did china redact the article? loledit: ah there's a period at the end which results in a 404

author: HAL-42b
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2016, 08:49:11 pm
content: Excuse me if I retain my skepticism for a while.People have been working with TOKAMAKs for very long time and are abandoning them for more stable designs. It is unlikely they missed something significant. Also the Chinese team is working much colder plasma.

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2016, 09:36:59 pm
content: The time the plasma can be hold is a critical parameter for the TOKAMAK design only. The stellator design used in germany works different: The main difference is that it has no principle limit on the time to hold the plasma, but there are other difficulties in stead. Also the new German unit just started operation a few weeks ago.The difficult part is getting all three parameters of time, temperature and pressure (or density) high enough, without consuming to much energy. Its usually relatively easy to get two of the parameters right, but not all three. So comparing just on the time to hold the plasma is somewhat stupid. In this respect the stellator design is playing by different rules. So if you compare the time, then JET and "soon" ITER are the ones to compete with.

author: TinkerFan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2016, 09:47:41 pm
content: A more detailed description of the two reactor types, but still just a brief note with no evidence for the 102 seconds in China...http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-08/clean-nuclear-energy-are-we-there-yet/6777180

author: dannyf
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2016, 09:52:10 pm
content: Good progress. China is an interesting beast in that while the bulk of its manufacturing is low tech, it has invested a lot in energy, transportation, life sciences, semi conductor design and fabrication, as well as software / internet.It would be interesting to see what those investments can yield down the road, together with its tremendous human capital.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 08, 2016, 11:47:19 pm
content: Quote from: firewalker on February 08, 2016, 08:04:08 pmConsidering the quality (or LACK there of) of many Chinese products this might give a whole new meaning to the phrase "Chine Syndrome".

author: 0xdeadbeef
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 09, 2016, 12:02:01 am
content: Meh...Compared to Wendelstein 7-X, this Chinese thing looks like 30 years behind. Which is most probably quite exactly what it is.But yeah well, if they feel better to publish a last minuscule success while Wendelstein is slowly ramping up to its designed parameters, then let's give them the pleasure.

author: retrolefty
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 09, 2016, 03:29:34 am
content: Quote from: Stray Electron on February 08, 2016, 11:47:19 pmWhy to trample the punch line.