Making a Star

"Fuel" used at NIF, the tiny capsule is filled with deuterium-tritium.

The last few weeks in my Nuclear Energy class, we have been discussing the possibilities of fusion energy. Fusion energy is a lot different than the current fission reactors the world uses today because no radioactive by-products are formed. However, as of right now there is no method for producing energy from fusion that generates more money than is put in to the reaction. This is because fusion occurs at extremely high temperatures.

So this morning, my professor who has dedicated his life to the research of fusion energy was discussing some of the places he had previously worked. He showed us this slide show of which some of it pertained to NIF, the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, California. And then he talked about what goes on in this place...wow. As mentioned earlier, one of the problems with fusion energy is actually getting the reaction to reach temperatures higher than that of the interior of our sun. So the goal of NIF was to work on just that..."igniting" the reaction.

Although, this is somewhat "old" news...I myself  (not coming from a physics background) did not know much about it. I don't want to spoil what goes on at NIF because I know that this video will explain it much better than I can. Short and simple: A lot of big lasers shoot at a tiny, tiny sphere of fuel...thus concentrating their energy on one spot and igniting the fuel. Please check out the video (look past the corny 3rd grade science class feel)...it's really amazing.

Come on Nevada...be more like Osthammar

Storage of spent nuclear fuel in facility at Oskarshamn, Sweden

I read the most interesting article today containing information that I never thought I would ever read. A town in Sweden, a country that receives over 50% of its electricity from nuclear energy, claims that it will gladly take the nuclear waste from Sweden's reactors. What?!?! Is this for real?

Osthammar, residents were recently polled and the results were amazing. Over 88% of the residents said that they were in favor of allowing thousands of tons of nuclear waste to be stored under their town.

So now the plan is to bury some 12,000 tons of nuclear waste in copper containers 500 meters underground for over 100,000 years. Osthammar, was chosen for this task because the town sits a top billion year old bedrock. Apparently, the locals are in favor of such an act because they grew up next to the nuclear plant in Forsmark. Their family and friends work there and they have become accustomed to nuclear.

Currently, Sweden has 5,000 tons of nuclear waste stored at a facility in Oskarshamn. It's stored in an eight meter deep water tank approximately forty meters underground. However, even with all the safety precautions (water shielding and underground) the plant is still monitored 24-7-365. Sweden wants to find another way, and with more nuclear waste being made all the time something more efficient has to be done.

Makes you wonder if we could ever see something like this happening in the USA...

"Individual commitment to a group effort-that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." Vince Lombardi