🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1991Nov11.154523.18353@jet.uk> cm@jet.uk (colin manning) writes:
>PRESS RELEASE
>-------------
>At 7.44pm Saturday 9th November 1991, between 1,500,000 and 2,000,000 watts of
>power .. . 

>The director of JET, Dr Paul-Henri Rebut, announcing the successful 
>experiment said "this is the first time that a significant amount of power
>has been obtained from controlled nuclear fusion reactions. 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^         
Could be misleading, and cause some to think that it was "obtained" -- as 
in captured and coverted to [electric] power.  


> .. . . .........            ..         The planned operation with the 
>correct mix of the reactor fuels - a 50/50 mixture of deuterium and tritium - 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Correct??   What an unfortunate choice of words.  There isn't a worse 
fusion fuel they could choose to attempt pre-burn.  Of course with the 
luke warm temperatures and restricted plasma pressure available using a 
tokamak, there isn't anything else they could burn.  It's the lowest 
temperature most reactive (and dirtiest) fuel there is.  


>         . .             . . .       . . As the world's largest fusion
>device, JET has achieved separately all individual parameters required in a
>reactor. 

Horse feathers!  THE single required parameter is:  the TRIPLE PRODUCT 
of three other parameters, time (tau), Temperature (T), and plasma 
density (n) and it must be above a critical value.  That value has 
NEVER been achieved.  The "individual values" are free to vary -- as 
long as the triple product is large enough.  It hasn't been.  Running 
up one of the other parameters "individually" represents no measure of 
progress.  It is tauted here as if it was progress in the cited "PRESS 
RELEASE" to hype the public and government political supporters of this 
tokamak engineering fiasco.  

>"The hard work and dedication of all the JET staff over many years, together 
>with the support of all the European Nations who are members of the Joint
>Undertaking have today been rewarded by this achievement" said Dr Rebut. 

Wonderful, but how much will it take before they discover the tokamak 
won't fly commercially, even with an unreasonably large investment?  50
years? 100 more years??  

>experiments are a significant milestone and clearly confirm Europe's leading
>position in fusion research. 

Or shared stupidity.

>                            This demonstration fully confirms that with the
>additional information from the planned JET programme up to 1996 we will be
>able to design the experimental fusion reactor ITER capable of generating more
>than 1000 megawatts of thermal power."

Too bad ITER won't be able to covert that power efficiently into 
electric power, and then run powered up for a few weeks at a time.  

>For further information contact John Maple, tel +44 235 464776

as reported by:      >- Colin Manning, cm@jet.uk

                    Engineering Dictum:
                    If it cost too much
                   to research & develop. 
                       It won't work.
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