[ RadSafe ] Re: Absurd? Oh, the irony!

[JPreisig at aol.com]

Hmmmmm,

     This is from:    jpreisig at aol.com    .

      Hey Radsafers,

           I am somewhat perplexed by John Andrews' comments on fusion and
      energy retrieval from fusion neutrons.  I don't believe one has to use a
      uranium blanket for energy retrieval from the fusion neutrons.

           All one has to do is create a water layer (or blanket, if you 
will) around
      the fusion reactor.  The 15 MeV neutrons will give up much of their
      energy in collisions with the water atoms.  The water is thus heated 
and 
      used to drive a turbine to produce electricity.  That's all.

           The big technical problem in fusion is creating a hot enough 
plasma 
      which can be contained in a stable manner (for a long enough time).  
The 
      containing is done using magnetic fields.  See Lawson's Criterion (and
      similar topics) in your fusion textbook.

           The people at PPPL (Princeton Plasma Physics Lab) and elsewhere
      are making progress in fusion work.  The current fusion experiment
      at PPPL is the NSTX.  ITER comes later on.  I think ITER is headed for
      France because Japan is too seismically active.  There may be other
      reasons.  I guess the people at PPPL (and/or Princeton) have been 
      working on this problem for over 50 years.  The progress seems kind of
      slow to me, but then plasmas are at high temperatures and are not easy 
      to contain.

             In other physics news, I think I read the other day that the RHIC
      (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) scientists at Brookhaven Lab have been
      seeking to make something called a Quark-Gluon Plasma.  Their recent
      work suggests that instead of a Quark-Gluon plasma, they have succeeded
      in producing some sort of plasma related "ideal liquid".  I guess this 
is
      a real discovery which will help our understanding of all this.  
Perhaps to
      get a true Quark-Gluon plasma, they will have to ramp up their
      ion collision energies???

            I think fusion propulsion would be preferable to fission 
propulsion
      for space travel.   We're all waiting????


      Enjoy the Summer!!!!

                              Regards,        Joseph R. (Joe) Preisig, Ph.D.