http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7655016.stm
Sounds kinda cool to me. If the Palins of America can be put aside, maybe the US can enter the 21st century and do this kind of stuff.
QUOTE
Europe follows fusion twin track
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
An alternative fusion project has been kicked off in Europe that would seek abundant clean energy using a colossal laser the size of a football stadium.
The laser would tap the energy by squeezing together atoms of hydrogen - a process very similar to the one that powers the Sun.
Europe is already engaged in the Iter fusion venture that aims for the same outcome but via magnetic compression.
The Hiper programme is seen as a necessary complementary route.
"We have two approaches because of the prize that is out there; fusion energy is the holy grail of energy sources," said Hiper project leader Professor Mike Dunne.
"It offers energy security because the fuel comes from seawater; it offers abundant supply, it's clean and it's safe. So the prize is huge and we believe we need as many approaches as possible to make that prize a reality," he told BBC News.
'Spark plug'
The technical challenge of making fusion happen, however, is huge; and a viable solution has eluded scientists for 50 years.
The Hiper (High Power Laser Energy Research) study has been instigated by the European Commission and involves the participation of 26 institutions from 10 countries. Keys players are the UK, the Czech Republic and France.
The intention is to establish the practicalities of building an experimental facility to demonstrate so-called Inertially Confined Fusion Energy.
This would see a high-powered laser-pulse compress a ball-bearing-sized pellet of "heavy" hydrogen - the atomic forms, or isotopes, known as deuterium and tritium - to achieve a density 30 times that of lead. A second pulse of light would then raise the temperature in the compressed pellet to more than 100 million Celsius.
In these conditions, the hydrogen nuclei would fuse to form helium. According to theory, a small amount of mass would be lost and a colossal amount of energy would be released.
"Think of it as a car engine," said Professor Dunne.
"First of all you inject the fuel and then in a car engine, a piston will compress the fuel. In our case, we use a big laser to compress our fusion fuel.
"Then, just like in a car engine, you have a spark plug that lights the fuel. We also use a spark but in our case, we use another laser - a very high-powered, very short-pulsed laser. You then exhaust the products and repeat the cycle again, and again, and again - just like in your car engine."
By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
An alternative fusion project has been kicked off in Europe that would seek abundant clean energy using a colossal laser the size of a football stadium.
The laser would tap the energy by squeezing together atoms of hydrogen - a process very similar to the one that powers the Sun.
Europe is already engaged in the Iter fusion venture that aims for the same outcome but via magnetic compression.
The Hiper programme is seen as a necessary complementary route.
"We have two approaches because of the prize that is out there; fusion energy is the holy grail of energy sources," said Hiper project leader Professor Mike Dunne.
"It offers energy security because the fuel comes from seawater; it offers abundant supply, it's clean and it's safe. So the prize is huge and we believe we need as many approaches as possible to make that prize a reality," he told BBC News.
'Spark plug'
The technical challenge of making fusion happen, however, is huge; and a viable solution has eluded scientists for 50 years.
The Hiper (High Power Laser Energy Research) study has been instigated by the European Commission and involves the participation of 26 institutions from 10 countries. Keys players are the UK, the Czech Republic and France.
The intention is to establish the practicalities of building an experimental facility to demonstrate so-called Inertially Confined Fusion Energy.
This would see a high-powered laser-pulse compress a ball-bearing-sized pellet of "heavy" hydrogen - the atomic forms, or isotopes, known as deuterium and tritium - to achieve a density 30 times that of lead. A second pulse of light would then raise the temperature in the compressed pellet to more than 100 million Celsius.
In these conditions, the hydrogen nuclei would fuse to form helium. According to theory, a small amount of mass would be lost and a colossal amount of energy would be released.
"Think of it as a car engine," said Professor Dunne.
"First of all you inject the fuel and then in a car engine, a piston will compress the fuel. In our case, we use a big laser to compress our fusion fuel.
"Then, just like in a car engine, you have a spark plug that lights the fuel. We also use a spark but in our case, we use another laser - a very high-powered, very short-pulsed laser. You then exhaust the products and repeat the cycle again, and again, and again - just like in your car engine."
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