# Worlds most complex machine is nearly 50 % complete



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 6, 2017)

A vast international experiment designed to demonstrate that nuclear fusion can be a viable source of energy is heading toward completion, the organization behind the project said Wednesday.

Construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, or ITER, in southern France has been dogged by delays and a surge in costs to about 20 billion euros ($23.7 billion).

ITER's director-general, Bernard Bigot, said the project is on track to begin superheating hydrogen atoms in 2025, a milestone known as 'first plasma.'









ITER is the most complex science project in human history.

The hydrogen plasma will be heated to 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times hotter than the core of the Sun, to enable the fusion reaction.

The process happens in a donut-shaped reactor, called a tokamak,1 which is surrounded by giant magnets that confine and circulate the superheated, ionized plasma, away from the metal walls.

The superconducting magnets must be cooled to minus 269°C, as cold as interstellar space

























https://www.iter.org/


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## AsRock (Dec 6, 2017)

23b and the rest, worked on to many construction site's in the passed to know better.  Anyways sounds like it could put earth at risk LOL.

Glad it's happening in France 1st ( no were near us ).


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## Hood (Dec 6, 2017)

So they're building a star on Earth.  I hope they remember to install an off switch.  It would be embarrassing if Earth exploded by accident.


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## AsRock (Dec 7, 2017)

Hood said:


> So they're building a star on Earth.  I hope they remember to install an off switch.  It would be embarrassing if Earth exploded by accident.



Would be a true problem solver.


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## xkm1948 (Dec 7, 2017)

AsRock said:


> Would be a true problem solver.



Very unfair for the rest of the worlds' life forms and a certain percentage of _Homo sapiens_ though.


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## AsRock (Dec 7, 2017)

xkm1948 said:


> Very unfair for the rest of the worlds' life forms and a certain percentage of _Homo sapiens_ though.



When did humans start caring for other than them self' ?.


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## Loosenut (Dec 7, 2017)

My biggest worry is if this thing implodes and creates a microscopic black hole


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## xkm1948 (Dec 7, 2017)

AsRock said:


> When did humans start caring for other than them self' ?.



Certain % of human cares a lot. Certain % of human don't give a f*uck. It is always like that.


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## RejZoR (Dec 7, 2017)

Loosenut said:


> My biggest worry is if this thing implodes and creates a microscopic black hole



It doesn't have the mass to achieve this. If anything goes wrong it'll basically just die out like an incandescent bulb that lost vacuum. At worst, the reactor might go bye bye. But it has no radioactive material (it is fueled by hydrogen), so, it's not really an issue.

I sure hope it'll be a success. It's really time we move away from fossil fuels and harness this power instead because it's much cleaner and sustainable than any other power source.


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## Melvis (Dec 7, 2017)

So can the rest of the world just tap in when its completed? lol


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## Vya Domus (Dec 7, 2017)

RejZoR said:


> It doesn't have the mass to achieve this.



That's sort of a common misconception. You don't need astronomical amounts of mass , you just need very high energy density to produce a black hole.


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## W1zzard (Dec 7, 2017)

Vya Domus said:


> you just need very high energy density to produce a black hole.


Which you can't achieve with fusion


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## R0H1T (Dec 7, 2017)

RejZoR said:


> It doesn't have the mass to achieve this. If anything goes wrong it'll basically just die out like an incandescent bulb that lost vacuum. At worst, the reactor might go bye bye. But it has no radioactive material (it is fueled by hydrogen), so, it's not really an issue.
> 
> I sure hope it'll be a success. It's really time we move away from fossil fuels and harness this power instead because it's much cleaner and sustainable than any other power source.


What if it creates a wormhole or something & leads Thanos straight to earth?












Vya Domus said:


> That's sort of a common misconception. You don't need astronomical amounts of mass , you just need very high energy density to produce a black hole.


That's what I thought but I assume *controlled fusion* won't provide enough energy to create a black hole btw how much energy is required anyway?


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## W1zzard (Dec 7, 2017)

R0H1T said:


> btw how much energy is required anyway?


Depends on whether you believe that micro black holes can be created (which means general relativity is not fully correct).

If you believe in GR, then ~10^16 kg (fermion limits), rougly mass of Deimos (a small moon).
Otherwise no minimum, which would create then micro-black holes. Those micro BHs would evaporate instantly anyway, unless you don't believe in Hawking Radiation either.


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## TheUninvited (Dec 7, 2017)

I am starting to wonder how many homeless people could be saved with this amount of money pff.


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## Toothless (Dec 7, 2017)

TheUninvited said:


> I am starting to wonder how many homeless people could be saved with this amount of money pff.


Not many since most would spend it all on booze and questionable substances.


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## TheUninvited (Dec 7, 2017)

Toothless said:


> Not many since most would spend it all on booze and questionable substances.



Well they do have it rough you know. And who doesn't have an addiction ? Some people drink too much some other people eat too much or smoke too much.  They do have their own reason which we cannot understand. But homeless people need help.Actually everybody needs help.


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## infrared (Dec 7, 2017)

But nuclear fusion, if it works as they hope, will help every human, animal and plant on our planet, not just a handful of unfortunate homeless people (who I agree need help, but not at the detriment to such an important project)


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## Sasqui (Dec 7, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> ten times hotter than the core of the Sun, to enable the fusion reaction



So if the sun is one big fusion reactor, why does it need to be 10 times hotter than that?  Honest question


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## infrared (Dec 7, 2017)

I know that wasn't directed at me, but I believe it's because of the pressure difference, the sun has a lot of mass trying to crush in on itself, so it takes less heat to get the atoms excited enough to fuse. I don't know what pressure they're using in the reactors here but it'll be a lot less than the core of a star.


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## Loosenut (Dec 8, 2017)

Toothless said:


> Not many since most would spend it all on booze and questionable substances.



As someone we all know and love once said: "Hookers and blow" 

On topic, thanks to all for the black hole explanation. I'll sleep better now knowing I won't get sucked into a black hole anytime soon. At least, not by that reactor anyways...


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## xorbe (Dec 8, 2017)

Loosenut said:


> My biggest worry is if this thing implodes and creates a microscopic black hole


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## Therandomness (Dec 8, 2017)

Sasqui said:


> So if the sun is one big fusion reactor, why does it need to be 10 times hotter than that?  Honest question


The sun is just bigger. More mass = more gravity, therefore it doesn't need to be as hot because gravity helps squash the atoms together

Also, if this thing lost its containment field, the resulting 'explosion' would just be the plasma dissipating outwards, losing energy rapidly. So it wouldn't do much damage to anything other than the facility.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Dec 8, 2017)

Reading these comments makes me think most people's knowledge of fusion comes from spider man 2.


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## Sasqui (Dec 8, 2017)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Reading these comments makes me think most people's knowledge of fusion comes from spider man 2.



No silly, Tony Stark invented it using a palladuim catalyst!

Seriously, are you into particle and plasma physics?


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## MrGenius (Dec 8, 2017)

Not really relevant to the topic. But...black holes can't exist.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 8, 2017)

*STELLARATOR VS TOKAMAK*

*










*






Stellarators are a type of nuclear reactor, and are less widely used than tokamak fusion reactors.

Instead of trying to control plasma with just a 2D magnetic field, which is the approach used by the more common tokamak reactors, the stellerator works by generating twisted, 3D magnetic fields.

Stellarators confine the hot, charged gas, otherwise known as plasma, that fuels fusion reactions in twisty magnetic fields.

In contrast, tokamaks use a strong electric current to trap plasma inside a doughnut-shaped device long enough for fusion to take place.

The tokamak was conceived by Soviet physicists in the 1950s and is considered fairly easy to build, but extremely difficult to operate.

The twisty configuration of stellarators enables them to control the plasma with no need for the current that tokamaks must induce in the gas.

Stellarator plasmas run little risk of disrupting, as can happen in tokamaks, causing the internal current to abruptly halt and fusion reactions to shut down.





 Nature Communications, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2T5x0uIOfY


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## SnakeDoctor (Dec 8, 2017)

Now imagine that thing blowing up or failing 
End of the world comming...


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## Vlada011 (Dec 8, 2017)

It's time for preparation and moving far from France.
Canada or Siberia or South America, South Africa will be hit with less destruction.

It's weird, one day most of people will laugh and joke looking "preppers"... 
next day they will be jelous to them and third day if survive will try to steal goods and weapons from them and hide in their shelters.
Underground is best protection.  Underground shelters with hidden entrance far from civilization is best from all kind of doomsday.


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## the54thvoid (Dec 8, 2017)

Vlada011 said:


> It's time for preparation and moving far from France.
> Canada or Siberia or South America, South Africa will be hit with less destruction.
> 
> It's weird, one day most of people will laugh and joke looking "preppers"...
> ...



Doomsday will be in spite of our scientific progress, not because of it.


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## droopyRO (Dec 8, 2017)

If that thing were to be build in my country by our government , the universe would be over before the device would be ready.


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## Therandomness (Dec 9, 2017)

SnakeDoctor said:


> Now imagine that thing blowing up or failing
> End of the world comming...


Once again, I will say that:
If the containment field fails and the plasma escapes, the resulting expansion of the gas will cause it to nearly instantly lose all its energy, cooling down and just creating a cloud of gasses (which might be flammable and ignite, but it's nothing world ending). Once again, someone correct me if I'm wrong.


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## RejZoR (Dec 10, 2017)

Sasqui said:


> So if the sun is one big fusion reactor, why does it need to be 10 times hotter than that?  Honest question



I'm no expert, but I'd say we're compensating something with that. Something we don't have on Earth but does occour in sun. I mean, sun is literally a self sustaining fusion reactor with immense lifetime because of the amount of fuel it has and the gravity it has that holds everything together. We don't have either here on Earth. I'm also interested what exactly is the reason.


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