Forum   Contacts   RSS
AtomInfo.Ru


Russian, Italian scientists to discuss construction of Ignitor reactor

RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED June 18, 2011

Russian and Italian scientists will on June 20-21 discuss the possibility to construct Ignitor fusion reactor in Russia, the director of Russia's national research center Kurchatov Institute said on Saturday.

"A meeting with our Italian partners will be held on Monday and Tuesday," he said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum.

Originally designed by Italian scientists, Ignitor is a variant of tokamak fusion reactor. It is the brainchild of Bruno Coppi of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who worked on MIT's Alcator tokamaks from the 1970s until the present day.

A tokamak is a doughnut-shaped vessel in which researchers use powerful magnet fields to squeeze and heat a plasma of hydrogen isotopes until the nuclei fuse together forming helium and releasing large amounts of heat. Ignitor is several times smaller than tomahawk but with a stronger magnetic field.

The ultimate goal is to achieve "ignition," the point at which the fusion reactions themselves provide enough energy to keep the process running without an external heat source, and excess energy is siphoned off to convert into electricity. Ignitor reactor could be the world's first to reach fusion ignition and perhaps paving the way for eventual power production.

Topics: Russia


Other news:

U.S. lifts market restrictions against Rosatom

Rosatom will no longer be required to get a special license from the U.S. Department of Commerce to cooperate with American companies.

New chemical elements synthesized by Russian team recognized

Element 114 was first synthesized in December 1998 by bombarding plutonium nuclei with calcium nuclei, which have 94 and 20 protons respectively.

Russia lacks personnel to dismantle nuclear sites

Russia is to decommission and dismantle 42 nuclear facilities by 2015 and 188 by 2020, Rosatom department head Yevgeny Komarov said.


Hero of the day

Alexander Chistozvonov

Alexander Chistozvonov: end of the Romantic period

Today, the army of managers is earnestly believing that one can take the man responsible for the licensing of alcoholic beverages, and put it on licensing, and even to supervise the nuclear reactor.



INTERVIEW

Christophe Behar

Christophe Behar
We are preparing now a review of these design options and the decision has to be made in 2012, by the public authorities. ASTRID basic and detailed design will be launched afterwards.


OPINION

Dmitry Kosyrev

Dmitry Kosyrev
Asia cannot be split into pro-China and anti-China camps because of economic and other realities, including Mother Nature herself.


Search:


Rambler's Top100