Star Power: the Irish Role in a French Nuclear Reactor
In an article by The Irish Times, Anthony King discusses the role of Irish scientists in the ITER fusion project. The article gives a great description of both plasma and the fusion process. Irish scientists participate in a variety of activities at ITER, ranging from diagnostics and installation to plasma temperature regulation. The article also discusses the safety of fusion in comparison to nuclear fission techniques. From the article:
“Releasing the power of an atomic nucleus means more energy. In fact, it will release almost a million times more binding energy than burning coal, which just moves electrons around. Just a single gram of two types of hydrogen nuclei will generate the same energy as 8,000 litres of oil.”
“I don’t think anybody can think of a catastrophic accident scenario involving a fusion reactor,” says physicist Miles Turner of DCU. “Fission reactions can get out of control, but there doesn’t seem to be any risk of this with fusion. Rather the opposite is the case: we might not get it going.”
To read the full article, click here.
