speed

China intimidates in nuclear fusion. The construction of its own iter advances at full speed

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The way to a destiny as challenging as the nuclear fusion Commercial must necessarily be full of small conquests. Of achievements that may seem modest, but that, in reality, are milestones that place us a little closer to an ambitious goal that does not pursue anything other than help us solve our energy needs without continuing to emit greenhouse gases. In this context Iter monopolizes much of attention. And it is understandable that it is so. After all, it is a project with a huge wingspan, which is also led by the European Union. In fact, this organization is assuming together approximately 50% of the total cost of a plan in which the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India and South Korea also participate. However, the commitment of public origin for nuclear fusion is not condensed only in Iter. And it is not limited only to the European Union. Not much less. Europe is pointing Very important scientific milestonesbut there are other countries that are also being very high, and that, precisely, do not move in the orbit of the West. In fact, two of them, probably the most outstanding, are China and South Korea. The Chinese experimental reactor CFETR is extraordinarily promising China that, as we have seen, actively participates in Iter’s tuning, has been engaged in the development of an experimental nuclear fusion reactor for several years at least as ambitious as the latter. It’s called CFETR (Chinese Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor), A denomination that we can translate as a test reactor for Chinese fusion engineering. The engineers of the country led by Xi Jinping completed their conceptual design in 2015 taking as a starting point the Chinese fusion reactors East, HL-2a (M) and J-Text. The experts of the commission that certifies nuclear facilities have approved the first section of the vacuum chamber CFETR has much in common with Iter. In fact, it aspires to complement the machine that is being built in the French town of Cadarache, and, at the same time, it is nourished by the knowledge generated during the design and development of Iter. Anyway The construction of the CFETR reactor It is already underway. And advances at a very good pace. In fact, just two days ago the experts of the Chinese commission that certifies the nuclear facilities gave the final approval to the first section of the reactor vacuum chamber. This is the gigantic component that we can see in the cover photography of this article. The CFETR reactor vacuum chamber will consist of seven other sections such as this, will have a height of 20 meters and will be made of stainless steel of very low carbon content. Inside, fusion reactions between the deuterium and tritium nuclei will occur that will be magnetically confined in a plasma that will exceed 100 million degrees Celsius. The most interesting thing is that this machine will operate in two phases. During the first of them, he will prove that he is able to generate up to 200 MW of energy, as well as sustain a tritium production ratio greater than 1. This simply means that will produce more tritio than consumeso he will be able to self -abuse from this radioactive hydrogen isotope. During the second phase of operation, the CFETR reactor will pursue more than 1 GW of power, so it will become a demonstration machine that, if everything goes well, will be happened by the first commercial fusion energy plants. Image | Xinhua News More information | China Science In Xataka | Spain’s milestone in nuclear fusion: the first plasma produced by the Smart reactor invites us to optimism

Fed of excess speed on her street, a Frenchman did the only thing she could do: install a false radar

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This 2025 will be installed more than 120 new radars in Spain. The location of fixed radars is not a secret and can be easily consultedbut the objective is clear: that the drivers respect the speed limits. There are some who have no machinery And they are only as a deterrent. And, appealing to that deterrence, a Frenchman tired of speeding on a road from his town placed a homemade radar. A shabby, plastic and that has ended up being effective. So much that has even caught the attention of the mayor. The radar. In France they have several guys of fixed radars. They are huge black or gray boxes with a yellow and black tape, but one of them is cylindrical and has technology capable of distinguishing between vehicles and lanes. Thus, it captures the speed of trucks and vehicles separately in case both types come out in the photo. That is the one that is anonymous neighbor of a town called Bezannes has decided to imitate. On January 22, Jean Monnet Avenue, limited to 30 km/h, dawned with a new radar. The City Council had not reported its presence, but there was, imposing, in the median of an area with a high volume of traffic. Its design was exactly the same as HGV radars, with the imitation of the two windows for the sensors, so the neighbor created it conscientiously to pass through a real one. Security: 1, Cost: 0. One of the people who ran into him recognized It shows that it is false, but also that, from a distance, “one might think that it is a real radar.” He also confessed that he was surprised the first time he saw him and raised his foot from the accelerator because “no one leads at that speed” and that he does not understand the limit. Bezannes is a fairly small town, of just over 1,200 inhabitants, but the avenue connects with the city of Reims, a much larger with about 180,000 inhabitants to the northeast of the country. Therefore, that connection avenue has a high traffic volume, but a limit speed of 30 km/h. Before it was 50 km/h, but as in Spain, they decided to limit the speed due to the presence of two pedestrian crossings. Of the mayor’s taste. Who liked the idea was, perhaps, the most unexpected. The morning of that day, the police had already seen that there was an element that should not be there and informed the mayor. Your reaction? “It’s quite well done.” The mayor, Dominique Potar, completed his argument wondering if he was a work of a joker or a conscious citizen who wanted to contribute to security in his own way, but that was something that did not change the result of the action. “Perhaps, we should even congratulate him because he has had a real impact on traffic,” he said. The results seem obvious, since Potar said that, in the area, there were times that the speed was exceeded in 100 km/h what was allowed, so they installed Badenes that managed to reduce it, but that it is not yet enough and there are times that there are times that They place spy radars, which serve to measure those infractions, but that are not useful as a deterrent method. To the ground, of course. Potar joked that “perhaps we should place it in another place in the city”, but not everyone took this joke or action of a neighbor tired of traffic as something as positive. Proof of this is that, soon after, the radar ended on the ground because someone had tried to destroy it. The legality of false radars. As much as it may be, and although the radar was quite shabby, it is evident that it has fulfilled its goal by pointing out that we are going very fast and that we only respond when we touch our pocket. Now, the most curious thing is that this of false radars is not so weird. In fact, in France, any You can put one at home. They do the neighbors who live in areas where the speed is high and fight to try to stop it. There are examples of radars such as the one placed in Bezannes, but also others like a camouflaged mailbox as if it were a radar. According to its owner, it works, but it has already had to screw it because they have thrown it on occasion. There are also some Much elaborate that also seem, clearly, a real radar, with cameras, flash and everything. Outstanding image | Marc Mongenet In Xataka | The 50 radars that are most fine throughout Spain: these are their locations and everything they collect

China is advancing at breakneck speed in nuclear fusion. It already has something ready that until now only the Netherlands had

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The path to a destination as challenging as it is nuclear fusion commercial must necessarily be full of small conquests. Of achievements that may seem modest, but that, in reality, are milestones that put us a little closer of an ambitious objective that seeks nothing more than to help us solve our energy needs without continuing to emit greenhouse gases. In this context ITER attracts much of the attention. And it is understandable that this is so. After all, it is a project of enormous magnitude, which is also led by the European Union. In fact, this organization is jointly assuming approximately 50% of the total cost of a plan in which the United States, Russia, China, Japan, India and South Korea also participate. However, the public commitment to nuclear fusion is not condensed solely into ITER. And it is not limited only to the European Union either. Not at all. Europe is signing up very important scientific milestonesbut there are other countries that are also bidding very high, and that, precisely, do not move in the orbit of the West. In fact, two of them, probably the most advantaged, are China and South Korea. China has a very sophisticated linear plasma generator to advance fusion In the field of nuclear fusion, plasma is the extremely hot gas that contains the nuclei of deuterium and tritium, the two isotopes of hydrogen, which are involved in the reaction. For these nuclei to overcome their natural electrical repulsion and the strong nuclear interaction to fuse them, they must acquire a very high kinetic energy. And this is only possible if the plasma reaches a temperature equal to or greater than 150 million degrees Celsius. As we can guess, very few known materials are capable of withstanding such a high temperature. However, this is not all. When a deuterium nucleus fuses with a tritium nucleus, they produce a helium nucleus and a neutron that is ejected with an energy of about 14 MeV (megaelectronvolts). The problem is that the neutron lacks a net electrical charge, so it cannot be confined inside the magnetic field which, however, does manage to retain the deuterium and tritium nuclei, which have a positive electrical charge. The components that will be most affected by the direct impact of high-energy neutrons and the most intense heat flow are the inner wall of the vacuum chamber and the mantle. This is the reason why when it originates as a result of the nuclear fusion reaction, this neutron is ejected towards the walls of the vacuum chamber with enormous energy. This particle is very important because in practice it will be closely linked to the production of electrical energy in nuclear fusion reactors, but, at the same time, it represents a very aggressive form of radiation that can significantly degrade the materials used in the reactor. . The components that will be most affected by the direct impact of high-energy neutrons and the most intense heat flow are the inner wall of the vacuum chamber and the blanketwhich is a mantle that covers it and whose purpose is regenerate tritium which is necessary to use as fuel in the nuclear fusion reaction. This is why it is crucial to develop new materials that are able to withstand the neutron flux and therefore ensure that the reactor will have a long operational life. Until now, only the Netherlands had a device capable of generating a high-flow plasma similar to what occurs in the vacuum chamber of a nuclear fusion reactor. But now China has it too. The Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences has successfully built a highly advanced linear plasma generator capable of accurately recreating the extreme conditions found inside fusion reactors. Its purpose is to use it to test candidate materials to be used in vacuum chamber constructionfor which it is essential to subject them to the interaction of plasma. Fortunately, China has confirmed that this machine will be available for international collaboration. Image | Hefei Institutes of Physical Science More information | Hefei Institutes of Physical Science In Xataka | Spain’s milestone in nuclear fusion: the first plasma produced by the SMART reactor invites us to optimism

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