Saturday Night Science Geekfest

[montanadave]

I knew there were a bunch of brainy bastards working on fusion reactors here and there, but I missed the development of the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) being built in southern France through a cooperative effort of countries, including the U.S. It's a big ass project and will, in all likelihood, be the most expensive scientific experiment in history.

What caught my eye was a recent article in The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/03/03/140303fa_fact_khatchadourian?currentPage=all

The article is lengthy and detailed, but well worth the time. This gizmo is scheduled to become operational in 2020, with probably 10 years of preliminary testing before they are ready to attempt creating a controlled fusion reaction. The project was initially proposed in 1985 at a summit meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev. Since that time, the E.U., Japan, India, China, and South Korea have joined the U.S. and Russia.

Here's a short YouTube clip describing the project (complete with operatic music :)):


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdfQUftpv1Q

Here's the actual ITER website, with more information than I'll ever wade through: https://www.iter.org/

Cool stuff. Actually, really hot stuff. Like two hundred million degrees Celsius hot.

[dhrith]

You might find this similarly interesting. I remember noting on the company news letter the notation we'd finally gotten more out than in. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility

[TehLlama]

Briefly, but not ignition proper.

Every now and again, I just go back to staring at pictures from the PBFA era of the current Z-Machine out here at SNL. That thing is properly impressive in person, even more so when you get to see some of the stuff that gets blasted from the Z-Pinch up close.