Team Confirms UCLA Tabletop Fusion 354
An anonymous reader writes "A team of New York physicists has confirmed that a tabletop contraption made at UCLA does in fact generate nuclear fusion at room temperatures, using pairs of crystals and a small tank of deuterium. But unlike less reliable reports back in the 1980s, there's no talk this time of producing endless supplies of power. Rather, the technology could lead to ultra-portable x-ray machines and even a wearable device that could provide safe, continuous cancer treatment."
has anyone seen... (Score:1, Interesting)
Room temperature? (Score:3, Interesting)
Speedy particles smashing into each other have a lot of kinetic energy in the center of mass inertial system. This is nothing different than 'heat'.
Re:Key Application Overlooked (Score:5, Interesting)
Not being a scientific paper, the details of the procedure aren't germaine to the article.
Eh, it's close enough, right?
Re:Oh great... (Score:3, Interesting)
I think that's kind of the idea, if you were trying to kill a tumor with it.
At any rate, I get the feeling that the 'cancer treatment' idea was probably just something that whoever gave the interview to the article's author pulled out of their ass when they were asked about 'possible uses.' It sounds good, and who knows, it might even be true.
Re:Key Application Overlooked (Score:3, Interesting)
Um don't you need protons for that also? Adding neutrons would just create isotopes...
No. You have to overcome the charge of the protons to get them to enter the nucleus. If it were easy to get protons to enter a nucleus, we would have had fusion decades ago.... Of course the universe wouldn't exist as we know it, but that's not really germane to the discusison. Neutrons, having no charge at all, fly right in and collide, unimpeded by the electron cloud or the protons.
If I remember correctly, there's a very unstable intermediate isotope of Uranium created that almost immediately emits a beta particle which converts a neutron to a proton.
Re:Key Application Overlooked (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Oh great... (Score:5, Interesting)
Basically, you're right. The nice things about fusion (or some of them at least) are that there's no scope for a Chernobyl-style meltdown and the reaction products and reactants are safe.
The problem, as you say, is that it's an excellent source of neutrons. The generator and its housing have to be designed to absorb as much of that neutron flux as possible. This inevitably produces radioactive isotopes in these materials, which will eventually break down to the point that they must be replaced.
The nuclear waste associated with a fusion power plant isn't as bad as that for a fission one, but it still exists and still needs to be dealt with.
Could Fusion/Fission Hybrids be made? (Score:3, Interesting)
What I'm wondering is whether this could be used to create a hybrid device that blast fissionable material with reaction initiating neutrons, rather than balance the fissionable material on the knife's edge of criticality. If so then fission reaction would stop immediately upon loss of initiating neutrons from the fusion source and you have a much safer nuclear reactor design. Could this also be used to burn our existing stockpiles of waste, and if not practical with these neutron sources, could future more efficient fusion reactors be used to extract additional energy from nuclear waste while consuming and disposing of it at the same time?