my understanding is that a tokamak reactor is just a particular way of containing the plasma generated by fusion but it still uses that for heat energy to create steam to drive a turbine
I'm not a physicist, I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that outside of photovoltaic materials (which convert light directly into electricity) the only way to generate electricity at industrial scale is to do the whole "spin coiled wire within a magnetic field" thing that we've been doing since the 1800s
So if I understand right, tokamak reactors create the conditions for fusion to happen continually, whereas the z-pinch method creates the conditions for fusion to happen momentarily, and the fusion-fission combination method uses the z-pinch method to both generate heat and hurl neutrons at a mass of thorium (or any other material that won't go critical) to cause fission and generate additional heat.
I guess the thing that makes Z-FFR a fusion-based energy generation method is that fusion is a convenient way to get neutrons up to fission speed?
There are nuclear reactor schemes in which energy is directly captured from the reaction's EM field.
As the plasma expands, it pushes back on the magnetic field. By Faraday's law, the change in field induces current, which is directly recaptured as electricity. This clean fusion electricity is used to power homes and communities, efficiently and affordably.
This is from a us company that's working on fusion (Helion)
My lack of understanding on how a tokamak reactor works has put me in a precarious intellectual situation here lol
my understanding is that a tokamak reactor is just a particular way of containing the plasma generated by fusion but it still uses that for heat energy to create steam to drive a turbine
I'm not a physicist, I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that outside of photovoltaic materials (which convert light directly into electricity) the only way to generate electricity at industrial scale is to do the whole "spin coiled wire within a magnetic field" thing that we've been doing since the 1800s
So if I understand right, tokamak reactors create the conditions for fusion to happen continually, whereas the z-pinch method creates the conditions for fusion to happen momentarily, and the fusion-fission combination method uses the z-pinch method to both generate heat and hurl neutrons at a mass of thorium (or any other material that won't go critical) to cause fission and generate additional heat.
I guess the thing that makes Z-FFR a fusion-based energy generation method is that fusion is a convenient way to get neutrons up to fission speed?
There are nuclear reactor schemes in which energy is directly captured from the reaction's EM field.
This is from a us company that's working on fusion (Helion)
Tokamak is the magnetic donut thing, right?