ENERGISED WITH LIMITLESS POWER
Posted on 12th February 2022
After the battering we have all had while the pandemic raged and then to be weighed down by thoughts that the world could be burning, threatening the existence of humanity itself, some really good news would be welcome. Now we have it, through what is described as the “Holy Grail” of power generation, nuclear-fusion. Before you start thinking Sellafield, Chernobyl or nuclear waste, think again. This process produces only a small amount of short-lived radio-active waste. However, and what is particularly breath-taking, it has the capacity to produce almost limitless power. This to put it in prospective, the tokamak, the nuclear-fusion reactor, a donut shaped crucible which contains a magnetic field, has so far only managed to run for 5 seconds, but the results from a facility near Oxford have excited scientists from around the world. In the words of one “ We demonstrated that we can create a mini-star and hold it there for 5 seconds and get high performance which really takes us into a new realm”. Research being carried out at MIT in the States show that nuclear-fusion will be generating electricity within the next decade. Then just to re-affirm that a revolutionary change is coming, investors Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are pouring billions into the funds for nuclear-fusion energy machines. The Manhattan project and the atomic bomb was how all this stuff began and the source of my childhood nightmares. Maybe now nuclear- fusion will allow me dream of an earth safe for my grandchildren.
