How would energy be extracted and turned into useful electrical energy in a fusion power plant?
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In fission power plants, water (or another fluid) comes into direct contact with a relatively large reactor area before expanding and driving a turbine. In a fusion power plant, however, the fuel and the reaction take up incredibly little space, and require very specific conditions for the reaction to take place. How, then, can water be introduced in the quantities necessary to generate a net positive flow of energy?
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Answer:
Fusion power generation is exactly the same as a fission power generation, except for the heat source for the turbine. Tokomak-style fusion reactors use high-energy neutrons escaping the plasma containment field to heat water in a jacket around the reaction chamber. Fission plants use direct conduction/convection thermal transfer from the fuel rods to water (or other coolant). Fission reactions also produce high-energy neutrons, but they are needed to sustain the chain reaction and so usually aren't the heat source. Fission reactors are actually very small -- the actual reactor core is about the same size as a fusion reactor core. It's all the containment and cooling systems that take up so much space. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_water_reactor http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER
Ryan Carlyle at Quora Visit the source
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