Errymath: nuclear reactor

Plan to build world’s first experimental nuclear fusion power station

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Harness the energy that powers the sun.
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At least three Chinese cities are vying to host the world’s first experimental nuclear fusion power station after the country’s government
 threw its weight behind the ambitious project this month.<br />
Chinese scientists have been working on the 
conceptual design of the project, which offers the prospect of an almost
 unlimited supply of energy, since at least 2013, but the central 
government’s imprimatur has now taken it on to the next stage – drawing 
up the engineering blueprints.
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Shanghai, mainland China’s financial hub, has 
been joined by Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, and Chengdu, the 
capital of Sichuan province, in the race to win the lucrative project, 
which, according to some estimates, could cost more than 100 billion 
yuan (US$15.2 billion).</div>
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With completion scheduled for 2035, the reactor 
would heat hydrogen gas to a temperature 10 times as hot as the core of 
the sun. At such temperatures, atoms of deuterium and tritium, two 
isotopes of hydrogen, merge to form helium. A small bit of mass would be
 lost, creating a huge amount of energy.</div>
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<img alt="" class="lazyload-processed loaded" data-caption="Chinese scientists install an experimental tokamak reactor at a research facility in Hefei, Anhui province, in February 2006. Photo: EPA" data-enlarge="https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980w/public/images/methode/2017/12/26/8d8a16c4-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1280x720_195315.JPG?itok=o84V91fh" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2017/12/26/8d8a16c4-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1280x720_195315.JPG?itok=WasZu3dp" height="551" src="https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2017/12/26/8d8a16c4-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1280x720_195315.JPG?itok=WasZu3dp" title="Chinese scientists install an experimental tokamak reactor at a research facility in Hefei, Anhui province, in February 2006. Photo: EPA" width="980" /><br />      
Chinese
 scientists install an experimental tokamak reactor at a research 
facility in Hefei, Anhui province, in February 2006. Photo: EPA
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Fusion, the same process that has kept the sun 
burning for the past 5 billion years, is regarded as the ultimate 
solution to humanity’s energy needs. Hydrogen is plentiful in Earth’s 
oceans, and, unlike today’s uranium-fuelled nuclear power plants, a 
fusion reactor would produce no radioactive waste.</div>
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On December 6, a day after the central 
government announced it was backing the project, Shanghai’s Communist 
Party secretary, Li Qiang, and the city’s mayor, Ying Yong, led a 
delegation to China’s largest nuclear fusion research device, in Hefei, 
to discuss “matters of cooperation”, scientists working at the facility 
told the <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2125267/chinese-cities-vie-harness-energy-powers-sun" target="_blank"><i>South China Morning Post</i>.</a></div>
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A researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’
 Institute of Plasma Physics, which is based in Hefei, said Shanghai, 
home to a large pool of scientific talent, hoped to host the project.</div>
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“The city sits by the sea, with lots of water 
which can be used to dissipate the heat generated by the reactor,” said 
the researcher, who asked not to be named. “Personally, I’d like to see 
the project built by the coast, but it is not a prerequisite. The 
reactor could also be built in an inland area next to a lake or 
reservoir.”</div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/26/bb3ebbe2-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1320x770_195315.JPG" data-resolution="2" src="https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/26/bb3ebbe2-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1320x770_195315.JPG" style="height: 385px; width: 660px;" title="The doughnut-shaped chamber at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak in Hefei. Photo: Chinese Academy of Sciences" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><span class="image-caption hover-processed active" style="display: block;">The doughnut-shaped chamber at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak in Hefei. Photo: Chinese Academy of Sciences</span><span class="image-caption hover-processed active" style="display: block;"> </span></span> </div>
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Officials in Hefei, supported by Anhui’s 
provincial government, have told local media they mount an “all out” 
effort to have the reactor built in the city, already home to the 
Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, which has set records for
 the longest lasting plasma – the extremely hot gas in which fusion 
takes place.</div>
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Research facilities in Sichuan, in southwestern 
China, played key design and production roles in China’s nuclear weapons
 programme, and Chengdu’s bid is backed by the military and China’s 
powerful nuclear industry. </div>
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The province is already home to several 
experimental tokamak devices and Chengdu argues that its researchers 
have more experience in building sophisticated, unconventional reactors 
than those elsewhere in China.</div>
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Yang Qingwei, a Chengdu-based nuclear physicist leading the engineering design of the fusion reactor, told the <i>Post</i> several cities were competing for the project.</div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 486px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/26/c57c9232-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_972x_195315.PNG" data-resolution="2" src="https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/26/c57c9232-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_972x_195315.PNG" style="height: 433px; width: 486px;" title="An experiment conducted at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak in January. Photo: Chinese Academy of Sciences" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 486px;"><span class="image-caption hover-processed active" style="display: block;">An experiment conducted at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak in January. Photo: Chinese Academy of Sciences</span></span> </div>
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“There is no consensus yet, nor any decision,” 
Yang, a researcher at the China National Nuclear Corporation’s 
Southwestern Institute of Physics, said, declining to reveal the names 
of candidate locations.</div>
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Xiao Jun, a nuclear scientist studying fusion at
 the Institute of Modern Physics at Fudan University in Shanghai, said 
the cities were attracted by the potential benefits of building what was
 likely to become the world’s first fusion power plant.</div>
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“The temptation is almost irresistible,” he said.</div>
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Major nations have been striving to make nuclear
 fusion a reality for more than half a century, with the tokamak, 
invented by Soviet physicists in the 1950s, the most popular 
experimental reactor design. It uses superconductive coils to generate a
 powerful magnetic field capable of containing the plasma in a 
doughnut-shaped chamber.</div>
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The United States also tried another approach, 
known as inertial confinement, at its National Ignition Facility in 
California. It aims to use lasers to achieve fusion, but has proved more
 difficult than originally thought, and the US Department of Energy 
admitted last year that the US$3.5 billion facility might never reach 
its goal.</div>
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With strong financial backing from the Chinese 
government, Chinese researchers have extended their fusion research lead
 over the US in recent years, setting records for the longest lasting, 
most stable plasma and developing new technologies and materials in 
state-of-the-art laboratories.</div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/26/1eb5e00c-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1320x770_195315.jpg" data-resolution="2" src="https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/26/1eb5e00c-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1320x770_195315.jpg" style="height: 385px; width: 660px;" title="Construction work at the ITER site in Cadarache, southern France, in September last year. The tokamak reactor is scheduled to produce its first plasma in December 2025. Photo: AP" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><span class="image-caption hover-processed active" style="display: block;">Construction
 work at the ITER site in Cadarache, southern France, in September last 
year. The tokamak reactor is scheduled to produce its first plasma in 
December 2025. Photo: AP</span></span> </div>
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The planned Chinese fusion reactor will rely 
heavily on the design of the International Thermonuclear Experimental 
Reactor (ITER) under construction in southern France, but is aiming for a
 much more ambitious goal.</div>
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ITER, which has attracted investment totalling <span class="euro text-only">€</span>22
 billion (US$26.1 billion) from the European Union and countries 
including China, the US and Russia, is the most expensive scientific 
facility ever built. But it is only aiming for a fusion burn lasting 
about 10 minutes, while the researchers working on the Chinese reactor 
hope to achieve one lasting months.</div>
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Tang Jun, a fusion scientist at Sichuan 
University’s Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology in Chengdu, 
said achieving the goal would require the development of many 
technologies, instruments and materials that did not exist today.</div>
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For instance, the reactor’s inner wall would 
have to be made of super strong alloys to withstand the heat and 
bombardment of high-energy particles, the plasma would need to be 
tightly and precisely controlled to prevent destructive energy spikes 
and the electric coils would have to be bathed in a large volume of 
super-cold liquid to maintain their superconductivity, otherwise the 
magnetic field would disappear.</div>
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“This project will draw research talent from 
other cities in China and all over the world,” Tang said. “It could turn
 a city to one of the most vibrant innovation centres on the planet.”</div>
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According to a timeline posted on the website of
 the Chinese Academy of Sciences this month, the design work will take a
 couple of years, with construction starting in 2021.</div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/26/992719d2-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1320x770_195315.JPG" data-resolution="2" src="https://cdn4.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/26/992719d2-e615-11e7-8ff5-d91dc767c75e_1320x770_195315.JPG" style="height: 385px; width: 660px;" title="Technicians make components for ITER at a factory in La Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France, in October last year. Photo: AFP" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><span class="image-caption hover-processed active" style="display: block;">Technicians make components for ITER at a factory in La Seyne-sur-Mer, southern France, in October last year. Photo: AFP</span></span> </div>
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But Lei Yian, an associate professor at Peking 
University’s school of physics who was previously involved in fusion 
energy research at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US, said 
the cities in race should realise it was a high-risk endeavour.</div>
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“I doubt the facility can be up and running in 20 years,” he said.</div>
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Fusion projects around the world have 
encountered unexpected technical challenges that have led to serious 
delays. The ITER project, for instance, was scheduled for completion 10 
years ago, but that has been postponed to the mid-2020s according to 
even the most optimistic estimate.</div>
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While China could learn lessons from ITER, and 
Chinese engineers and workers had a reputation for meeting deadlines, 
Lei said they would face huge technical obstacles to reach the targeted 
burning time.</div>
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“The cities must consider the risk that the 
project turns into a money pit,” he said, adding there were also 
environmental concerns.</div>
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When fusion starts, a large number of 
fast-flying neutrons are generated, which can not only damage the 
reactor’s components but also pose a threat to the wider world.</div>
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“If some of the neutrons escape to the 
environment outside, even at a small percentage such as one in a 
thousand, they will pose a serious threat to people living and working 
nearby,” Lei said.</div>
<a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2125267/chinese-cities-vie-harness-energy-powers-sun" target="_blank">SCMP</a><br />
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Plan to build world’s first experimental nuclear fusion power station

Harness the energy that powers the sun. At least three Chinese cities are vying to host the world’s first experimental nuclear fusion po...

Beijing pumping billions into the development of ‘molten salt’ reactors

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0QahxS7-EksKQ5_4Sip3Y8bEXUs4zkKFvFLzJ3wnYZl3UePOvyi7WwJ7E50QSxAo7TqclytN3Xu42SJMcGtRrNlIyZ48vUnEAFogxsm8dQxrrXyy_icGt5_EndAAJZ6B06r8fTl464ok/s1600/DNyDBDbUIAE4Mq4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="472" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0QahxS7-EksKQ5_4Sip3Y8bEXUs4zkKFvFLzJ3wnYZl3UePOvyi7WwJ7E50QSxAo7TqclytN3Xu42SJMcGtRrNlIyZ48vUnEAFogxsm8dQxrrXyy_icGt5_EndAAJZ6B06r8fTl464ok/s640/DNyDBDbUIAE4Mq4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
   <a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MoltenSaltReactor?src=hash"><b>Molten Salt Reactor</b></a> <br />
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<b>Beijing <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2122977/china-hopes-cold-war-nuclear-energy-tech-will-power-warships" target="_blank">pumping billions</a> into the development of ‘molten salt’ reactors,
 amid revived interest among nations in the potentially safer and more 
powerful technology.</b><br />
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China is to spend 22 billion yuan (US$3.3 billion) trying to perfect a 
form of technology largely discarded in the cold war which could produce
 a safer but more powerful form of nuclear energy.<br />
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The cash is to develop two “molten salt” reactors in the Gobi Desert in northern China.
Researchers hope that if they can solve a number
 of technical problems the reactors will lead to a range of 
applications, including nuclear-powered warships and drones.
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The technology, in theory, can create more heat 
and power than existing forms of nuclear reactors that use uranium, 
while producing only one thousandth of the radioactive waste.</div>
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It also has the advantage for China of using 
thorium as its main fuel. China has some of the world’s largest reserves
 of the metal.</div>
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China is not alone in trying to revive the 
technology because of the potential benefits. Companies in the United 
States are working in the field, while Japan, Russia and France have all
 expressed renewed interest in the technology.</div>
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The Chinese project has been funded by the 
central government and the two reactors are to be built at Wuwei in 
Gansu province, according to a statement on the website of the Chinese 
Academy of Sciences. The lead scientist on the project is Jiang Mianheng
 – the son of the former Chinese president Jiang Zemin – and it is hoped
 the reactors will be up and running by 2020.</div>
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The US air force built a 2.5-megawatt molten 
salt reactor in the 1950s as part of a programme to develop 
nuclear-powered aircraft engines.</div>
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The reactors use molten salt rather than water 
as a coolant, allowing them to create temperatures of over 800 degrees 
Celsius, nearly three times the heat produced by a commercial nuclear 
plant fuelled with uranium. The superhot air had the potential to drive 
turbines and jet engines and in theory keep a bomber flying at 
supersonic speed for days.</div>
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The US project was shelved in the 1970s. 
Problems were encountered trying to reduce the size and weight of the 
reactor, and there were public concerns over the safety of the 
technology when placed in an aircraft.</div>
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Another problem was the erosion to pipes and the reactor chamber caused by the hot salt used in the fission process.</div>
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Yan Long, a researcher involved in the Chinese 
project at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, said the Gansu 
facility might eventually help China develop a thorium-powered warship 
or aircraft.</div>
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He said it was now possible to build a very 
small molten salt reactor and that after years of research and 
government funding, scientists had developed special alloy and coating 
materials to prevent chemical corrosion.</div>
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The reactors in Gansu were designed to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology, he said.</div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/05/4e5468d6-d997-11e7-91af-f34de211f924_1320x770_221025.JPG" data-resolution="2" src="https://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/05/4e5468d6-d997-11e7-91af-f34de211f924_1320x770_221025.JPG" style="height: 385px; width: 660px;" title="The Convair NB-36H Peacemaker experimental aircraft was part of the US’s Nuclear Aircraft Programme in the 1950s. Photo: Wikimedia Commons" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 660px;"><span class="image-caption hover-processed active" style="display: block;">The
 Convair NB-36H Peacemaker experimental aircraft was part of the US’s 
Nuclear Aircraft Programme in the 1950s. Photo: Wikimedia Commons</span></span><br />
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The research facility in Gansu will be built by a lake with high salt levels, according to the project blueprints.</div>
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Both reactors will be underground and the heat 
they generate will reach 12 megawatts. The heat will be channelled to a 
power generation plant, several factories and a desalination plant by 
the lake to produce electricity, hydrogen, industrial chemicals, 
drinking water and minerals.</div>
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After the experiment, China may move on to commercial or military use of the technology on a larger scale, Yan said.</div>
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“We are now developing new materials for 
warships. The materials must come with relatively low cost for mass 
production and they must be compact and light, otherwise the reactor 
won’t fit in a ship,” he said.</div>
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Chen Fu, a thermal physicist at the Harbin 
Institute of Technology involved in the development of new power 
generation systems for China’s navy, said the heat generated by a 
thorium molten salt reactor could be perfect to help generate power on a
 warship.</div>
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“It should be able to generate enough electricity for propulsion and electric equipment on an aircraft carrier,” he said.</div>
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Chen said the higher the temperature, the higher
 the power generation efficiency – a thorium-powered carrier could 
operate faster and longer than existing carriers using uranium as fuel.</div>
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“But the ship will need a very different 
structure to accommodate the new power source. It will be a difficult 
and tricky job because the rest of the ship must be strengthened to 
handle the increased power,” he said.</div>
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<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 486px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/05/8543a040-d9a2-11e7-91af-f34de211f924_972x_221025.JPG" data-resolution="2" height="640" src="https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2017/12/05/8543a040-d9a2-11e7-91af-f34de211f924_972x_221025.JPG" title="An artist’s impression of the proposed facility. Photo: Handout" width="615" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
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Artist <a href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2122977/china-hopes-cold-war-nuclear-energy-tech-will-power-warships" target="_blank">impression</a> of the molten salt reactor.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="v2-processed">
A military drone researcher in Beijing said a 
molten salt reactor could be used on a new generation of large, 
endurance drones operating at very high altitudes because it could be 
made very small and its operation did not require water.</div>
<div class="v2-processed">
<br /></div>
<div class="v2-processed">
“These drones would stay aloft over the oceans 
such as the Pacific. They would serve as a platform for surveillance, 
communication or weapon delivery to deter nuclear and other threats from
 hostile countries,” said the researcher, who asked not to be named.</div>
<div class="v2-processed">
<br /></div>
<div class="v2-processed">
“A nuclear-powered drone may be technically more
 feasible than manned aircraft because it does not require building a 
cockpit with lead to protect the human crew from radiation. It will also
 have more public acceptance. If an accident happens, it crashes into 
the sea,” the person said.</div>
<div class="v2-processed link">
<br /></div>
<div class="v2-processed">
Yan said, however, that the aircraft research 
project still faced many challenges. To mount a reactor on an aircraft 
would require ultralight, super-strong materials which were still under 
development in the laboratory.</div>
<div class="v2-processed">
“This is where the Americans have failed,” he said.</div>
<br /></div>

Beijing pumping billions into the development of ‘molten salt’ reactors

Molten Salt Reactor Beijing pumping billions into the development of ‘molten salt’ reactors, amid revived interest among nations...

Trouble for Lockheed's fusion reactor? Device that could 'solve the world's energy crisis' is 100 times larger than first planned

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUm5teH2usdPr4oMXzSWs2zcaeHEwx0WMIHXPNeHWkU5vTe5qf7Y5W99zWVDXh61ETLqkH8P3OecMLIp7Opz8aaOlCCapaWo9Zu1WUM1e-yqqjkvw12JZYBsl5IYkfvDaU2XzFhAh2LwI/s1600/1413458769593_wps_28_Fusion_Reactor_Image_by_M.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUm5teH2usdPr4oMXzSWs2zcaeHEwx0WMIHXPNeHWkU5vTe5qf7Y5W99zWVDXh61ETLqkH8P3OecMLIp7Opz8aaOlCCapaWo9Zu1WUM1e-yqqjkvw12JZYBsl5IYkfvDaU2XzFhAh2LwI/s640/1413458769593_wps_28_Fusion_Reactor_Image_by_M.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div class="mol-para-with-font">
In 2014, Lockheed Martin announced that it was working on a nuclear fusion reactor small enough to fit on the back of a truck.</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
Many said the device could 'solve the world's energy crisis'. </div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
But it seems the firm may be facing some issues living up to its claims.</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
An
 updated technical report shows that <a href="https://thefusionblog.quora.com/An-Analysis-of-Lockheed-Martins%E2%80%99-Fusion-Effort" target="_blank">Lockheed's fusion reactor is 100 times larger than it originally planned</a>.</div>
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<img class="landscape qtext_image zoomable_in_feed lazy_loaded lazy_loading" height="426" src="https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f50d6eddff131fc05716d75a990143e9" style="opacity: 1;" width="640" /> </div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<br /><div class="mol-para-with-font">
Dr Matthew J Moynihan, a self-proclaimed 
'‎Nuclear Fusion Evangelist' from Houston has released technical 
specifications on <a href="https://thefusionblog.quora.com/An-Analysis-of-Lockheed-Martins%E2%80%99-Fusion-Effort" target="_blank">Lockheed's fusion reactor project</a>.</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
While
 Lockheed Martin claimed in 2014 that the reactor would weigh 20 tons, 
the new specification shows that it will weigh 2,000 tons.</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
In terms of size, it is seven metres in diameter, and 18 metres long – similar in size to a  submarine nuclear fission reactor.</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<br /></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<img class="landscape qtext_image zoomable_in zoomable_in_feed lazy_loaded lazy_loading" src="https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-5ac342418367b496f937fb51c4ff4162" style="opacity: 1;" /> </div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<br /></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
In a <a class="" href="https://thefusionblog.quora.com/An-Analysis-of-Lockheed-Martins%E2%80%99-Fusion-Effort" rel="nofollow" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">blog</a>, Mr Moynihan wrote: 'Based on the newest numbers - the CFR is not as compact as we had thought.</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
'The core looks to be over 50 feet long and 20 feet in diameter.</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
'A hot plasma will sit inside this ~16.3 cubic meter space.</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
'That is enough space to fit two yellow school buses, with some extra room. </div>
</blockquote>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<br /></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Nuclear fusion involves placing hydrogen atoms under high heat and pressure until they fuse into helium atoms.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
<br /><div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">When 
deuterium and tritium nuclei - which can be found in hydrogen - fuse, 
they form a helium nucleus, a neutron and a lot of energy.</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">This is done by heating the fuel to temperatures in excess of 150 million°C, forming a hot plasma. </span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Strong
 magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls so that
 it doesn't cool down and lose its energy potential.</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<br /></div>
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    <div class="mol-img" style="position: relative;">
      <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer;">
        <img alt="Neutrons released from plasma (seen here in purple) transfer heat through reactor walls to drive a turbine" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="398" id="i-16d40e1a7edc6c03" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/10/16/1413459401869_wps_34_Lockheed_martin1_PNG.jpg" width="634" />
      </div>
</div>
<div class="imageCaption">
Neutrons released from plasma (seen here in purple) transfer heat through reactor walls to drive a turbine</div>
<div class="imageCaption">
<br /></div>
<div class="imageCaption">
<img class="landscape qtext_image zoomable_in_feed lazy_loaded lazy_loading" height="357" src="https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-17884eaaf46f000a3bb4c5d6a13345e6" style="opacity: 1;" width="640" /> </div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><img class="landscape qtext_image zoomable_in_feed lazy_loaded lazy_loading" height="325" src="https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-75418033e36fbb5e9ecea2936550a6d5" style="opacity: 1;" width="640" /> </span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<br /></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">These are produced by superconducting coils surrounding the vessel, and by an electrical current driven through the plasma. </span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">For energy production, plasma has to be confined for a sufficiently long period for fusion to occur. </span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Lockheed's
 system features a tube-like design, which allows them to get around one
 of the limitations of traditional fusion reactor designs, that are 
limited by the amount of plasma they can hold.</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Lockheed
 has found a way to constrain the plasma, using what is called a compact
 fusion reactor (CFR) with a specifically shaped magnetic field inside.</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<br /></div>
<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group">
    <div class="mol-img" style="position: relative;">
      <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer;">
        <img alt="Lockheed's system features a tube-like design, which allows them to get around one of the limitations of traditional fusion reactor designs, that are limited by the amount plasma they can hold " class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="423" id="i-1271bc42c8a2243d" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/10/16/1413457625996_wps_23_A_plasma_discharge_in_use.jpg" width="634" />
      </div>
</div>
<div class="imageCaption">
Lockheed's system features a 
tube-like design, which allows them to get around one of the limitations
 of traditional fusion reactor designs, that are limited by the amount 
plasma they can hold </div>
<div class="imageCaption">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">When
 the plasma tries to expand, the magnetic field fights back to contain 
it. In effect, this means the plasma works to contain itself. </span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">But when the firm first announced its plans for the tiny reactor, people were skeptical about it. </span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Dr
 Joel Gilmore, Principal at Renewable Energy & Climate Policy at 
Roam Consulting said: 'Certainly, I'd welcome fusion as part of the 
world's energy mix, but this announcement is a long way from a working 
prototype, let alone a commercially viable power generator.</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<br /></div>
<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group">
    <div class="mol-img" style="position: relative;">
      <div class="image-wrap fff-pic" style="cursor: pointer;">
        <img alt="Strong magnetic fields are used to keep the plasma away from the walls so that it doesn't cool down and lost it energy potential. These are produced by superconducting coils surrounding the vessel, and by an electrical current driven through the plasma" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="422" id="i-938477fb94d6cb05" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/10/16/1413458784798_wps_30_download_jpg.jpg" width="634" />
      </div>
</div>
<div class="imageCaption">
Strong magnetic fields are used 
to keep the plasma away from the walls so that it doesn't cool down and 
lost it energy potential. These are produced by superconducting coils 
surrounding the vessel, and by an electrical current driven through the 
plasma. <i>dailymail</i></div>
<div class="imageCaption">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">'Fusion
 requires incredibly high temperatures and pressures, which is 
challenging, and a lot of people have been working on fusion for a long 
time. So I won't get too excited yet.' </span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Lockheed
 had hoped that its fusion reactor could help in developingnew power 
sources amid increasing global conflicts over energy.</span></div>
<div class="mol-para-with-font">
<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">But the new technical specifications suggest that the firm could be struggling to refine its reactor. </span><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><i>dailymail</i> </span></div>
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Trouble for Lockheed's fusion reactor? Device that could 'solve the world's energy crisis' is 100 times larger than first planned

In 2014, Lockheed Martin announced that it was working on a nuclear fusion reactor small enough to fit on the back of a truck. Many s...

Possible Nuclear Fuel Debris Found at Fukushima Reactor Site

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<b>Radiation levels at Fukushima are so high that they can MELT robot camera probes sent into the reactors</b>
<br />
Radiation levels inside a stricken reactor at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have hit a record high.<br />
Levels are now so high that they could kill off robots sent in to probe the reactors.<br />
The development casts doubt over how the disaster-hit facility will be safely dismantled in the future.<br />
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<img alt="Radiation levels inside a stricken reactor at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have hit a record high. Levels are so high that they could kill off robots sent in to probe the reactors. This image shows a photograph taken by a probe sent into Fukushima's No. 2 reactor" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="365" id="i-d828f2b1f3ceb1d1" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/03/13/3CC96CDD00000578-4188146-Radiation_levels_inside_a_stricken_reactor_at_Japan_s_Fukushima_-a-30_1486127371841.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.01em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /><br />
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<span style="display: table-cell; float: none; letter-spacing: -0.01em; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;">+7</span></div>
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Radiation levels inside a stricken reactor at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant have hit a record high. Levels are so high that they could kill off robots sent in to probe the reactors. This image shows a photograph taken by a probe sent into Fukushima's No. 2 reactor</div>
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After a manually operated camera probed the deepest point yet within the reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) estimate that radiation levels inside the plant's No. 2 reactor have hit 530 sieverts per hour.</div>
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Radiation exposure at 530 sieverts per hour would effectively shut down TEPCO's planned robot camera probe in under two hours.</div>
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TEPCO said the radiation is not leaking outside the reactor. </div>
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The previous record at Fukushima was 73 sieverts per hour detected by sensors in 2012, TEPCO said.</div>
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But TEPCO said the high reading focused on a single point with levels likely to be much lower at other spots.</div>
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It added that future robot probes would not sustain severe damage because it was unlikely to linger for too long at a single point.</div>
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TEPCO's radiation readings were made by a radiation resistant robot probe. </div>
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The three cameras mounted on the caterpillar-type robot are designed to withstand up to 1,000 sieverts in total.</div>
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The 60-centimetre (2-foot) long robot has lamps at the front and is designed to crawl like a snake through a 10-centimetre (4-inch) wide pipe into the containment vessel.</div>
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Once inside the reactor, the robot flips into a U-shaped crawler and captures live images and temperature and radiation levels.</div>
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<img alt="After a manually operated camera (pictured) probed the deepest point yet within the reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) estimate that radiation levels inside the plant's No. 2 reactor have hit 530 sieverts per hour" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="423" id="i-71f9cfd51254f7bb" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/03/13/3CC9812E00000578-4188146-image-a-4_1486127149948.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.01em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); background-position: 0px center; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: table; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; height: 36px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="display: table-cell; float: none; letter-spacing: -0.01em; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;">+7</span></div>
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After a manually operated camera (pictured) probed the deepest point yet within the reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) estimate that radiation levels inside the plant's No. 2 reactor have hit 530 sieverts per hour</div>
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The robot transmitted them to a control station outside the building.</div>
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A massive undersea earthquake on March 11, 2011 sent a huge tsunami barrelling into Japan's northeast coast leaving more than 18,000 people dead or missing.</div>
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Three reactors were sent into meltdown at the Fukushima plant in the worst such accident since Chernobyl in 1986.</div>
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<img alt="Radiation exposure at 530 sieverts per hour would effectively shut down TEPCO's planned robot camera probe in under two hours. TEPCO said the radiation is not leaking outside the reactor" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="393" id="i-5fd8cb0e518bdec9" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/03/13/3CC9813600000578-4188146-image-a-2_1486127117844.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.01em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); background-position: 0px center; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: table; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; height: 36px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="display: table-cell; float: none; letter-spacing: -0.01em; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;">+7</span></div>
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Radiation exposure at 530 sieverts per hour would effectively shut down TEPCO's planned robot camera probe in under two hours. TEPCO said the radiation is not leaking outside the reactor</div>
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<img alt="The previous record at Fukushima was 73 sieverts per hour detected by sensors in 2012, TEPCO said. But TEPCO said the high reading focused on a single point with levels likely to be much lower at other spots" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="476" id="i-177ee073fb3af393" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/03/13/3CA930F200000578-4188146-image-a-3_1486127126981.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.01em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); background-position: 0px center; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: table; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; height: 36px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="display: table-cell; float: none; letter-spacing: -0.01em; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;">+7</span></div>
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The previous record at Fukushima was 73 sieverts per hour detected by sensors in 2012, TEPCO said. But TEPCO said the high reading focused on a single point with levels likely to be much lower at other spots</div>
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Japan's government said in December that it expects the total costs to reach £152 billion ($190 billion) in a cleanup process likely to take decades.</div>
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High radiation levels have greatly slowed operations.</div>
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TEPCO has said it plans to eventually use robots to locate the fuel debris as part of the decommissioning process.</div>
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<img alt="It added that the planned robot probe would not sustain severe damage because it was unlikely to linger for too long at a single point" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="476" id="i-87d5c04957a12246" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/03/13/3CA8A11C00000578-4188146-image-a-6_1486127190755.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.01em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); background-position: 0px center; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: table; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; height: 36px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="display: table-cell; float: none; letter-spacing: -0.01em; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;">+7</span></div>
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It added that the planned robot probe would not sustain severe damage because it was unlikely to linger for too long at a single point</div>
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<img alt="The three cameras mounted on a caterpillar-type robot are designed to withstand up to 1,000 sieverts in total. The 60-centimeter (2-foot) long robot has a lamp at the front and was designed to crawl like a snake through a 10-centimeter (4-inch) wide pipe" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="423" id="i-4b93ce0e6bba767a" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/03/13/3CC9810B00000578-4188146-image-a-5_1486127169793.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.01em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); background-position: 0px center; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: table; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; height: 36px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="display: table-cell; float: none; letter-spacing: -0.01em; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;">+7</span></div>
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The three cameras mounted on a caterpillar-type robot are designed to withstand up to 1,000 sieverts in total. The 60-centimeter (2-foot) long robot has a lamp at the front and was designed to crawl like a snake through a 10-centimeter (4-inch) wide pipe</div>
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<img alt="Once inside the reactor, the robot transformed into a U-shaped crawler and captured live images and temperature and radiation levels" class="blkBorder img-share b-loaded" height="476" id="i-56872d4e3fdc5f0a" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/02/03/13/3CA9407100000578-4188146-image-a-7_1486127204234.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); display: block; letter-spacing: -0.01em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="634" /><div class="overlay-icon mobile-gallery" style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4); background-position: 0px center; background-repeat: no-repeat; border-radius: 3px; bottom: 11px; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; display: table; font-family: arial; font-size: 16px; height: 36px; letter-spacing: -0.01em; line-height: 34px; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 10px; text-align: left;">
<span style="display: table-cell; float: none; letter-spacing: -0.01em; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 2px; vertical-align: middle;">+7</span></div>
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Once inside the reactor, the robot transformed into a U-shaped crawler and captured live images and temperature and radiation levels</div>
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Images of the wreckage inside the No. 2 reactor show that the metal grating under the pressure vessel which contained nuclear fuel has largely sunken in, causing a hole about one metre wide.</div>
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Black debris that could be melted fuel is also seen in the images.</div>
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Fuel may have melted through the vessel and damaged the grating but the exact cause was not determined, TEPCO spokesman Tatsuhiro Yamagishi said Friday.</div>
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'It may have been caused by nuclear fuel that would have melted and made a hole in the vessel, but it is only a hypothesis at this stage,' he told AFP.</div>
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'We believe the captured images offer very useful information, but we still need to investigate given that it is very difficult to assume the actual condition inside,' he said. </div>
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Possible Nuclear Fuel Debris Found at Fukushima Reactor Site

Radiation levels at Fukushima are so high that they can MELT robot camera probes sent into the reactors Radiation levels inside a stri...

China Claims Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough, No Specifics

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<img alt="Atom molecule in female hand (Shutterstock/ Sergey Nivens)" height="275" src="http://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/rsz_shutterstock_403184353-e1473442569402.jpg" title="Atom molecule in female hand (Shutterstock/ Sergey Nivens)" width="640" /><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Atom molecule in female hand (Shutterstock/ Sergey Nivens)</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i><a class="externalLink" href="http://dailycaller.com/author/andrew-follett/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ANDREW FOLLETT</a></i><br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/12/china-claims-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-no-specifics/" target="_blank">Energy and Science Reporter</a> </span></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">China’s state-controlled TV station claimed Sunday scientists made a major breakthrough in nuclear fusion research.<br />

Chinese researchers claim to have independently invented components to 
keep ionized gas burning steadily for twice the length of the previous 
record — an important step forward toward nuclear fusion, if true.<br />

The country allegedly created a component for a fusion reactor core that can withstand extremely high heat.<br />
<br />
“The component we invented is one of the first of its kind in the world 
that has passed the international cyclic heat test,” Cheng Jiming of 
China National Nuclear Corporation <a class="externalLink" href="http://english.cctv.com/2016/12/11/VIDEhckU10qimuaFeDvQwVRC161211.shtml" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">told CCTV</a>. “It really means a lot — it’s a great contribution to the international field of thermonuclear experimental reactors.”</span><br />
<br />
<div class="v2-processed image no-float">
<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 465px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/660x385/public/images/methode/2016/12/08/a6e4f9e2-a622-11e6-a836-75a661626cad_660x385.jpg?itok=MPuPouDh" src="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/660x385/public/images/methode/2016/12/08/a6e4f9e2-a622-11e6-a836-75a661626cad_660x385.jpg?itok=MPuPouDh" title="The donut-shaped chamber at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei. Photo: Chinese Academy of Sciences" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST).<br />
H-mode, in a donut-shaped chamber shielded by a extremely strong electromagnetic field.<br />
<br />
CCTV wasn’t clear about what kind of breakthrough allegedly occurred, other than to say China is “<a class="externalLink" href="http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/2044428/how-chinas-leading-world-nuclear-fusion-research" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">leaving other nations in the dust</a>” and will pour more money into fusion research.<br />
<br />
China’s component is supposed to be installed on the International 
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France. China provides 
about 10 percent of the financial support for ITER and has scientists 
directly involved in the project. It claims the new component <a class="externalLink" href="http://news.qq.com/a/20161211/004269.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">is about 20 percent more heat-resistant</a> than the reactor’s design requires.<br />
<br />
<img alt="" class="lazyload-processed loaded" data-caption="The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) facility in Hefei, Anhui province. Photo: EyePress" data-enlarge="http://cdn1.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980w/public/images/methode/2016/12/08/6294efda-a61e-11e6-a836-75a661626cad_1280x720.jpg?itok=rtyQ28tG" data-ignore="true" data-original="http://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2016/12/08/6294efda-a61e-11e6-a836-75a661626cad_1280x720.jpg?itok=vJQ0h0P7" height="359" src="http://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980x551/public/images/methode/2016/12/08/6294efda-a61e-11e6-a836-75a661626cad_1280x720.jpg?itok=vJQ0h0P7" title="The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) facility in Hefei, Anhui province. Photo: EyePress" width="640" />      
<br />
Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Anhui’s provincial<br />
  <br />
<div class="v2-processed image no-float">
<span class="image-caption-container image-caption-container-none" style="clear: none; display: inline-block; float: none; width: 465px;"><img class="caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded" data-ignore="true" data-original="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/660x385/public/images/methode/2016/12/08/2d27bea6-a61c-11e6-a836-75a661626cad_660x385.jpg?itok=v4GivXwt" src="http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/660x385/public/images/methode/2016/12/08/2d27bea6-a61c-11e6-a836-75a661626cad_660x385.jpg?itok=v4GivXwt" title="Technicians build a radial plate for superconducting cables for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in a large workshop in La Seyne-Sur-Mer, southern France. Photo: AFP" /><span class="image-caption hover-processed" style="display: block;"></span></span></div>
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) in France <br />
ITER members – Japan, South Korea, China, Russia, the US, India and the European Union<br />
<br />
ITER was originally expected to cost <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.iter.org/faq#Do_we_really_know_how_much_ITER_will_cost" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">approximately $5.7 billion</a>. Cost overruns, design changes and rising raw material prices <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.iter.org/faq#Why_have_ITER_costs_risen" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">saw the amount almost triple to $ 14.9 billion</a>. The project could end up costing $20 billion. <br />
<br />
Scientists in Germany found fusion reactors are feasible <a class="externalLink" href="http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/06/did-germany-just-unlock-nuclear-fusion/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">earlier this month</a>
 by determining that an experimental reactor was generating the right 
kind of magnetic field to trap plasma for long enough for nuclear fusion
 to occur.<br />
<br />
German engineers from the Max Planck Institute <a class="externalLink" href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/12/17/germany-tests-fusion-reactor-but-will-abandon-nuclear-by-2022/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">successfully activated</a> the experimental nuclear fusion reactor used in the research last December and managed to <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-German-fusion-reactor-achieves-first-plasma-1612154.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">suspend plasma for the first time</a>. The reactor <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.iflscience.com/technology/germany-just-successfully-fired-their-nuclear-fusion-reactor" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">took 19 years and $1.1 billion to build</a> and contains over 470 tons of superconducting magnets, all of which need to be cooled to absolute zero.<br />
<br />
Nuclear fusion is different from conventional nuclear reactors, as 
fusion causes atoms to join at extremely high temperatures and release 
huge amounts of energy. The process would generate essentially no 
hazardous waste and <a class="externalLink" href="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nucene/fusion.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wouldn’t require hazardous fuel</a>.<br />
  <br />
<div class="v2-processed image">
Operational fusion power would put most other forms of electricity generation permanently out of business and <a class="externalLink" href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/12/17/germany-tests-fusion-reactor-but-will-abandon-nuclear-by-2022/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">could occur very soon</a>. Fusion power could be “<a class="externalLink" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=qBqbr8uV9c8C&pg=PA32&ots=X_NiY853vH&dq=strauss+son+cheap+meter&sig=NJRVHP66IqtX80mgp38UfttAIPc#v=onepage&q=strauss%20son%20cheap%20meter&f=false" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">too cheap to meter</a>,”
 meaning that the cost of generating new power would be below the cost 
of determining how much power an individual was using, effectively 
making electricity generation free.<br />
<br />
Other recent <a class="externalLink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlYClniDFkM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">breakthroughs in fusion</a> could restart the atomic age, an era when nuclear progress was lauded as a pinnacle of human achievement.<br />
<br />
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.pppl.gov/events/colloquium-lockheed-martin-compact-fusion-reactor" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">is developing a compact fusion reactor</a> small enough to fit in a truck and would generate enough electricity to power 80,000 homes.<br />
<br />
An American research team in January discovered a way to initiate 
nuclear fusion reactions in a process called “fast ignition” using a 
high-intensity laser, <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-01/uoc--swe011416.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science</a>. Scientists believe that “fast ignition” <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nphys3614.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">could allow a fusion reaction to be controlled</a>, because it requires less “start-up” energy than other methods.</div>
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China Claims Nuclear Fusion Breakthrough, No Specifics

Atom molecule in female hand (Shutterstock/ Sergey Nivens) ANDREW FOLLETT Energy and Science Reporter China’s state-controlled TV...

Crippled Fukushima reactor fully exposed for first time since meltdown

<br />
<br />
<img alt="© photo.tepco.co.jp" class="media__item " height="356" src="https://img.rt.com/files/2016.11/original/58251c31c46188546f8b45a8.jpg" width="640" /><br />
Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) used an industrial crane to lift the 
last of its 18 protective panels Thursday. Each of the panels weighs 
around 20 tons and measure 23 by 17 meters<br />
<br />
<div class="article__summary summary ">
Fukushima’s Nuclear Plant reactor No. 1 has been fully exposed 
for the first time since the March 2011 tragedy, after the utility 
company safely removed the last cover sheet of the temporary protective 
construction. </div>
<div class="article__summary summary ">
</div>
<div class="article__text text ">
 <img alt="© Toru Hanai" class="read-more__cover" src="https://cdn.rt.com/files/2016.10/thumbnail/58102e2ec46188c36e8b458d.jpg" />
                <span class="read-more__footer"> </span><br />
<div class="arcticle__read-more read-more">
<span class="read-more__footer">Fukushima decommissioning costs soar to at least $24bn. </span></div>
<div class="arcticle__read-more read-more">
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<div class="arcticle__read-more read-more">
<span class="read-more__footer"><img alt="© Fukushima Daiichi" class="media__item media__item_ratio " src="https://img.rt.com/files/2016.09/thumbnail/57d8ab0ec46188be628b4721.jpg" /> </span></div>
<div class="arcticle__read-more read-more">
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Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) used an industrial crane to 
lift the last of its 18 protective panels Thursday. Each of the panels 
weighs around 20 tons and measure 23 by 17 meters.<br />
The protective 
cover was erected in October 2011 as a temporary measure to halt a 
radiation leak following a meltdown caused by a powerful earthquake and 
tsunami in March 2011.<br />
The dismantling of the panels started in July 
2015 and was concluded on Thursday.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 10, 2016. © Toru Hanai " class="media__item media__item_ratio " src="https://img.rt.com/files/2016.03/thumbnail/56db6d28c4618872358b4592.jpg" /> <br />
<br />
<img alt="Workers, wearing protective suits and masks, are seen near the No. 3 and No.4 reactor buildings at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 10, 2016. © Toru Hanai" class="media__item media__item_ratio " src="https://img.rt.com/files/2016.03/thumbnail/56da60cbc461882a1b8b45ac.jpg" /> <br />
<br />
At Unit 1, rubble from the 
damaged building caused by the hydrogen explosion remains scattered and 
needs to be removed. The entire site is highly contaminated and will now
 be covered with tarpaulins to avoid the spread of radioactive waste. 
TEPCO is using anti-scattering agents to keep the dust down. Small 
pieces of rubble that can create dust are being vacuumed up while mist 
sprinklers are being used inside the building to keep radiation under 
control.<br />
<br />
TEPCO next plans to remove 392 fuel assemblies from the 
spent pool and clean out the melted nuclear fuel from inside the 
building, NHK news <a href="http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20161110/k10010763181000.html" target="_blank">reported</a>. The utility company is assessing the level of radiation before continuing the cleanup process.<br />
<br />
<img alt="© Toru Hanai" class="media__item media__item_ratio " src="https://img.rt.com/files/2016.08/thumbnail/57b7a366c36188fc458b456f.jpg" /> <br />
<br />
<img alt="General aerial view of Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture. © Kyodo" class="media__item media__item_ratio " src="https://img.rt.com/files/2016.03/thumbnail/56fc57c7c461882d798b45a6.jpg" /> <br />
<br />
Scientists
 are also installing the necessary equipment to complete fuel extraction
 which will only start in four years. Fuel removal from Unit 1's 
depleted fuel pool is scheduled to begin around March 2021, according to
 TEPCO’s Mid- and Long-Term Roadmap that was revised in June 2015.<br />
<br />
In
 March 2011, a tsunami destroyed emergency generators at the plant. They
 had been cooling the reactors. The tsunami led to three nuclear 
meltdowns and the release of radioactive material.<br />
In Reactor 1, 
overheating caused the creation of hydrogen gas.<br />
On March 12, an 
explosion in Unit 1 destroyed the upper part of the building.<br />
<br />
TEPCO’s
 decommission plan for the Fukushima nuclear power plant implies at 
least a 30-40 year period before the consequences of the meltdown are 
fully eliminated.<br />
So far the clean-up efforts have already cost Japan in
 excess of $21 billion.<br />
<br />
According to the latest estimates from the 
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the decommissioning costs will 
top $105 billion. <i>rt</i></div>
<br />
<img alt="© Carlos Barria" class="media__item media__item_ratio " src="https://img.rt.com/files/2016.03/thumbnail/56e281b0c36188e5418b4591.jpg" /><br />
<i>rt</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<h1>
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span></h1>
<h1>
<a href="http://peakoil.com/enviroment/fukushima-radiation-has-contaminated-the-entire-pacific-ocean-and-its-going-to-get-worse" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">Fukushima Radiation Has Contaminated The Entire Pacific Ocean (And It’s Going To Get Worse)</span></a></h1>
<img alt="[IMG]" class="bbCodeImage LbImage" data-url="http://ta1.universaltelegra.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/fukushima.jpg" src="http://ta1.universaltelegra.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/fukushima.jpg" /><br />

Credit – NOAA<br />
The nuclear disaster has contaminated the world’s largest ocean in only 
five years and it’s still leaking 300 tons of radioactive waste every 
day.<br />
<br />
What was the most dangerous nuclear disaster in world history? Most 
people would say the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine, but they’d 
be wrong. In 2011, an earthquake, believed to be an aftershock of the 
2010 earthquake in Chile, created a tsunami that <a class="externalLink" href="http://fukushimaontheglobe.com/the-earthquake-and-the-nuclear-accident/whats-happened" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">caused a meltdown</a>
 at the TEPCO nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. Three nuclear 
reactors melted down and what happened next was the largest release of 
radiation into the water in the history of the world. Over the next 
three months, radioactive chemicals, some in <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fukushima-nuclear-planet-released-more-radiation-government-said/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">even greater quantities than Chernobyl</a>,
 leaked into the Pacific Ocean. However, the numbers may actually be 
much higher as Japanese official estimates have been proven by several 
scientists <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8854592/Japan-Fukushima-disaster-released-twice-as-much-radiation-as-initially-estimated.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">to be flawed</a> in recent years.<br />
<br />
<img alt="[IMG]" class="bbCodeImage LbImage" data-url="http://ta1.universaltelegra.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/fukushima-debris-island-400x225.jpg" src="http://ta1.universaltelegra.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/fukushima-debris-island-400x225.jpg" /><br />
Radioactive Debris from Fukushima approaching North<br />
America’s western coast.       <i>Credit – RT</i><br />
<br />
If that weren’t bad enough, Fukushima continues to leak an astounding <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-fukushima-pm-idUSBRE97601K20130807" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">300 tons of radioactive waste</a> into the Pacific Ocean <b>every day</b>. It will continue do so indefinitely as the source of the leak cannot be sealed as <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.sciencealert.com/the-robots-sent-into-fukushima-have-died" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">it is inaccessible</a> to both humans and robots due to extremely high temperatures.<br />
It should come as no surprise, then, that Fukushima <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.neonnettle.com/features/448-officials-fukushima-has-now-contaminated-1-3-of-the-worlds-oceans" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">has contaminated</a>
 the entire Pacific Ocean in just five years. This could easily be the 
worst environmental disaster in human history and it is almost never 
talked about by politicians, establishment scientists, or the news. It 
is interesting to note that TEPCO is a subsidiary of General Electric 
(also known as GE), one of the largest companies in the world, which <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.businesspundit.com/5-corporations-that-own-almost-everything/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">has considerable control</a>
 over numerous news corporations and politicians alike. Could this 
possibly explain the lack of news coverage Fukushima has received in the
 last five years? There is also evidence that GE knew about the poor 
condition of the Fukushima reactors for decades and did nothing. This 
led <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2014-01-31/1400-sue-general-electric-toshiba-and-hitachi-fukushima-disaster" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">1,400 Japanese citizens to sue</a> GE for their role in the Fukushima nuclear disaster.<br />
<br />
Even if we can’t see the radiation itself, some parts of North America’s
 western coast have been feeling the effects for years. Not long after 
Fukushima, fish in Canada <a class="externalLink" href="http://enenews.com/biologist-pacific-herring-in-canada-bleeding-from-eyeballs-faces-fins-tails-ive-never-seen-fish-looking-this-bad-all-100-caught-were-bleeding-hemorrhaging-first-noticed-in-summer-of-201" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">began bleeding</a>
 from their gills, mouths, and eyeballs. This “disease” has been ignored
 by the government and has decimated native fish populations, including 
the North Pacific herring. Elsewhere in Western Canada, independent 
scientists have measured a <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.straight.com/news/japans-fukushima-catastrophe-brings-big-radiation-spikes-bc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">300% increase</a>
 in the level of radiation. According to them, the amount of radiation 
in the Pacific Ocean is increasing every year. Why is this being ignored
 by the mainstream media? It might have something to do with the fact 
that the US and Canadian governments have <a class="externalLink" href="http://enenews.com/nytimes-govt-scientist-allowed-publish-findings-fukushima-cesium-137-could-be-10000-times-higher-pacific-surface-waters-after-chernobyl-japan-researchers-pressure-downplay-disasters-impact-profe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">banned their citizens</a> from <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-16861468" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">talking about Fukushima</a> so “people don’t panic.”<br />
<br />
<img alt="[IMG]" class="bbCodeImage LbImage" data-url="http://ta1.universaltelegra.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/dead-starfish-400x300.jpg" src="http://ta1.universaltelegra.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/dead-starfish-400x300.jpg" /><br />
Credit – AP<br />
<br />
Further south in Oregon, USA, starfish <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.storyleak.com/melting-starfish-along-west-coast-prompts-fukushima-fears/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">began losing legs</a> and then <a class="externalLink" href="http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2014/jun/sea-star-disease-epidemic-surges-oregon-local-extinctions-expected" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">disintegrating entirely</a>
 when Fukushima radiation arrived there in 2013. Now, they are dying in 
record amounts, putting the entire oceanic ecosystem in that area at 
risk. However, government officials say Fukushima is not to blame even 
though radiation in Oregon tuna <a class="externalLink" href="https://www.rt.com/usa/155692-oregon-tuna-radiation-tripled-fukushima/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">tripled after Fukushima</a>.
 In 2014, radiation on California beaches increased by 500 percent. In 
response, government officials said that the radiation was coming from a
 <a class="externalLink" href="https://www.rt.com/usa/fukushima-geiger-california-radiation-238/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">mysterious “unknown” source</a> and was nothing to worry about.<br />
<br />
However, Fukushima is having a bigger impact than just the West coast of
 North America. Scientists are now saying that the Pacific Ocean is 
already radioactive and is currently<a class="externalLink" href="http://enenews.com/radio-fukushima-daiichi-has-contaminated-the-biggest-body-of-water-on-the-planet-whole-pacific-ocean-likely-to-have-cesium-levels-5-10-times-higher-than-at-peak-of-nuclear-bomb-tests-audio" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> at least 5-10 times more radioactive</a>
 than when the US government dropped numerous nuclear bombs in the 
Pacific during and after World War II. If we don’t start talking about 
Fukushima soon, we could all be in for a very unpleasant surprise.<br />
<br /><b>Read-more:</b><br />
<b> </b><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>
<i><a class="externalLink" href="http://www.trueactivist.com/fukushima-radiation-has-contaminated-the-entire-pacific-ocean-and-its-going-to-get-worse/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=AM&utm_content=fukushimaradiationhascontaminatedtheentirepacificoceananditsgoingtogetworse" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">TrueActivist.com</a></i></li>
<li>
<a class="externalLink" href="http://peakoil.com/enviroment/fukushima-radiation-has-contaminated-the-entire-pacific-ocean-and-its-going-to-get-worse" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://peakoil.com/enviroment/fukus...tire-pacific-ocean-and-its-going-to-get-worse</a> </li>
<li><a class="externalLink" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-wasserman/us-sailors-sick-from-fuku_b_4759831.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-wasserman/us-sailors-sick-from-fuku_b_4759831.html</a></li>
<li>

<a class="externalLink" href="http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/us-sailors-sue-radiation-poisoning-21307774" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/us-sailors-sue-radiation-poisoning-21307774</a></li>
<li>

<a class="externalLink" href="http://www.naturalnews.com/050902_Fukushima_US_Navy_sailors_radiation.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.naturalnews.com/050902_Fukushima_US_Navy_sailors_radiation.html</a> </li>
<li><a class="externalLink" href="http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/fukushima.asp" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/fukushima.asp</a></li>
<li>
<a class="externalLink" href="http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/MediaDetail.php?MediaID=680&MediaTypeID=1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/MediaDetail.php?MediaID=680&MediaTypeID=1</a></li>
<li>
 
<a class="externalLink" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_and_radiation_accidents_and_incidents</a></li>
</ul>
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<br /><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Why I Left Tokyo</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>Doctor Shigeru Mita, who recently moved to Okayama-city, Okayama prefecture, to open a <a class="externalLink" href="http://mitaiin.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">new clinic</a> there, wrote a short essay in the newsletter published by Association of Doctors in Kodaira, metropolitan Tokyo.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Although the target readers for this essay were not the general 
public, it has been cited in a weekly e-mail magazine published by 
journalist <a class="externalLink" href="http://blog.goo.ne.jp/nagaikenji20070927" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kota Kinoshita</a>, who has been organizing actions to urge people to leave radiation affected areas (including Tokyo) since 3.11, 2011.</i><br />
<br />
<i>On many occasions, public talks and gatherings, both Dr. Mita and 
Mr. Kinoshita have acknowledged the danger of radiation and they have 
called out for immediate action for radiation protection.</i><br />
<br />
In November 2013, WNSCR translated an essay that Dr. Mita wrote for parents concerned about radiation: (Please read the article <a class="externalLink" href="http://www.save-children-from-radiation.org/2013/11/11/title-dr-shigeru-mita-addresses-the-need-of-blood-examination-among-children-in-the-kanto-area/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>).
 Despite the interests of many parents in Japan, there are very few 
doctors who show serious concern on the issues of radiation, and 
commenting on the issue publicly is even rarer.<br />
<br />
It is the opinion of WNSCR that Dr. Mita’s views have significant 
meaning for the general public, especially for those who are interested 
in the health impact of radiation on the general population. We have 
permission to translate a new essay of Dr. Mita, through Mr. Kinoshita<br />
<br />
Why did I leave Tokyo?<br />
Shigeru Mita ( Mita clinic)<br />
To my fellow doctors,<br />
<br />
<a class="externalLink" href="http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/themiddlepath1/media/Maps/map-fukushima-13_zps2atnardy.gif.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><img alt="[IMG]" class="bbCodeImage LbImage" data-url="http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s489/themiddlepath1/Maps/map-fukushima-13_zps2atnardy.gif" height="292" src="http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s489/themiddlepath1/Maps/map-fukushima-13_zps2atnardy.gif" width="400" /></a><br />
Map Left by Toshiaki Mizuno & Hideya Kubo, April 29, 2013<br />
<br />
I closed the clinic in March 2014, which had served the community of 
Kodaira for more than 50 years, since my father’s generation, and I have
 started a new Mita clinic in Okayama-city on April 21.<br />
<br />
I had been a member of the board of directors in the Kodaira medical 
association since the 1990’s, the time I started practicing medicine at 
my father’s clinic. For the last 10 years, I had worked to establish a 
disaster emergency response in the city.<br />
<br />
In Tokyo, the first mission of the disaster response concerns how to deal with earthquakes.<br />
<br />
In the event of a South Eastern Earthquake, which is highly expected,
 it is reasonable to assume a scenario of meltdown in the Hamaoka 
nuclear power plant in Shizuoka prefecture, followed by radiation 
contamination in Tokyo.<br />
<br />
I have been worried about the possibility of radiation contamination 
in Tokyo, so I had repeatedly requested the medical association, the 
municipal government and the local public health department to stock 
medical iodine. However, every time my request was turned down; the 
reason given was that Tokyo did not expect such an event. Hence there 
was no plan for preparing for the event.<br />
<br />
In the afternoon of March 11, 2011, Tokyo experienced slow but great 
motions in the earthquake. I thought, “now this is what’s called 
long-period seismic motions. The South Eastern Sea earthquake, with the 
following Hamaoka NPP accident, are finally coming”. Instead, the source
 of the earthquake was in Tohoku. The temperature of the reactors in 
Fukushima Daiichi NPP rose and it caused massive explosions, followed by
 meltdowns and melt-through.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">It is clear that Eastern Japan and Metropolitan Tokyo have been contaminated with radiation.</span><br />
<br />
Contamination of the soil can be shown by measuring Bq/kg. Within the
 23 districts of Metropolitan Tokyo, contamination in the east part is 
1000-4000 Bq/kg and the west part is 300-1000 Bq/kg. The contamination 
of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine, is 500 Bq/kg (Ce137 only). West 
Germany after the Chernobyl accident has 90 Bq/kg, Italy has 100 and 
France has 30 Bq/kg on average. Many cases of health problems have been 
reported in Germany and Italy. Shinjuku, the location of the Tokyo 
municipal government, was measured at 0.5-1.5 Bq/kg before 2011. Kodaira
 currently has 200-300 Bq/kg contamination.<br />
<br />
I recommend all of you to watch the NHK program, “<a class="externalLink" href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xy9rfx_%E6%B1%9A%E6%9F%93%E5%9C%B0%E5%B8%AF%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%AE%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A-%E7%AC%AC%EF%BC%91%E5%9B%9E-%E3%83%99%E3%83%A9%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B7%E3%81%AE%E8%8B%A6%E6%82%A9_tech" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ETV special: Chernobyl nuclear accident: Report from a contaminated land</a>”,
 which is available on the Internet. I think it is important to 
acknowledge what people who visited Belarus and Ukraine, and heard the 
stories of the locals, have seen and felt there, and listen to those who
 served in rescue operations in Chernobyl in the past more than 20 
years.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;">Their experience tells them that Tokyo 
should no longer be inhabited, and that those who insist on living in 
Tokyo must take regular breaks in safer areas.</span><br />
<br />
Issues such as depopulation and state decline continue to burden the 
lives of second and third generation Ukrainians and Belarusians today, 
and I fear that this may be the future of Eastern Japan.<br />
<br />
Since December 2011, I have conducted thyroid ultrasound 
examinations, thyroid function tests, general blood tests and 
biochemical tests on about 2000 people, mostly families in the Tokyo 
metropolitan area expressing concerns on the effects of radiation. I 
have observed that white blood cells, especially neutrophils, are 
decreasing among children under the age of 10. There are cases of 
significant decline in the number of neutrophils in 0-1 year-olds born 
after the earthquake (<1000). In both cases, conditions tend to 
improve by moving to Western Japan (Neutrophils 0–>4500). Patients 
report nosebleed, hair loss, lack of energy, subcutaneous bleeding, 
visible urinary hemorrhage, skin inflammations, coughs and various other
 non-specific symptoms.<br />
<br />
Kodaira, in western Tokyo, is one of the least-contaminated areas in 
Kanto; however, we began to notice changes in children’s blood test 
results around mid-2013 even in this area. Contamination in Tokyo is 
progressing, and further worsened by urban radiation concentration, or 
the effect by which urban sanitation systems such as the sewage system, 
garbage collection and incineration condense radiation, because 
contaminated waste is gathered and compressed. Data measured by 
citizens’ groups showed that radiation levels on the riverbeds of 
Kawabori River in Higashiyamato and Higashimurayama in Tokyo have 
increased drastically in the last 1-2 years.<br />
<br />
Other concerns I have include symptoms reported by general patients, 
such as persistent asthma and sinusitis. The patients show notable 
improvement once they move away.<br />
<br />
I also observe high occurrences of rheumatic polymyalgia 
characterized by complaints such as “difficulty turning over,” 
“inability to dress and undress,” and “inability to stand up” among my 
middle-aged and older patients. Could these be the same symptoms of 
muscle rheumatism that were recorded in Chernobyl?<br />
<br />
Changes are also noticeable in the manifestation of contagious 
diseases such as influenza, hand-foot-and-mouth disease and shingles.<br />
<br />
Many patients report experiencing unfamiliar symptoms or sensing 
unusual changes in their bodies. Perhaps they feel comfortable speaking 
to me, knowing that my clinic posted signs informing of possible 
radiation-related symptoms immediately after the nuclear accident. Many 
young couples with small children and women worried about their 
grandchildren visit my clinic and earnestly engage in the discussion, 
and there is not a single patient who resists my critical views on the 
impacts of radiation.<br />
<br />
Ever since 3.11, everybody living in Eastern Japan including Tokyo is a victim, and everybody is involved.<br />
<br />
We discovered that our knowledge from the discipline of radiology was completely useless in the face of a nuclear disaster. <span style="color: red;">The keyword here is “long-term low-level internal irradiation.” </span>This
 differs greatly from medical irradiation or simple external exposure to
 radiation. I do not want to get involved in political issues; 
nonetheless, I must state that the policies of the WHO, the IAEA or the <span style="color: red;">Japanese government cannot be trusted.</span> They are simply far too distanced from the harsh realities that people in Chernobyl still face today.<br />
<br />
The patients from Eastern Japan that I see here in Okayama have 
confirmed the feelings that I have had for a long time, since I was 
based in Tokyo. <span style="color: red;">People are truly suffering from this utter lack of support. </span>Since
 3.11, mothers have researched frantically on radiation to protect their
 children. They studied in the midst of their hostile surroundings in 
Tokyo, where they could no longer trust either government offices or 
their children’s schools. Family doctors were willing to listen about 
other symptoms, but their faces turned red at the slightest mention of 
radiation and ignored the mothers’ questions. Mothers could not even 
talk openly to friends anymore as the atmosphere in Tokyo became more 
and more stifled.<br />
<br />
I believe that it is our duty as medical doctors to instruct and 
increase awareness among the Japanese public. This is our role as 
experts, having knowledge of health that the general public does not 
possess. Three years have quickly passed since the disaster. No medical 
schools or books elaborate on radiation sickness. Nevertheless, if the 
power to save our citizens and future generations exists somewhere, it 
does not lie within the government or any academic association, but in 
the hands of individual clinical doctors ourselves.<br />
<br />
Residents of Tokyo are unfortunately not in the position to pity the 
affected regions of Tohoku because they are victims themselves. Time is 
running short. I took an earlier step forward and evacuated to the west.
 My fellow doctors of medicine, I am waiting for you here. And to the 
people in Eastern Japan still hesitating, all my support goes to 
facilitating and enabling your evacuation, relocation, or a temporary 
relief in Western Japan.</span></span><div style="background-color: white; border: medium none; color: black; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">
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<img alt="[IMG]" class="bbCodeImage LbImage" data-url="https://img3.doubanio.com/lpic/s27283836.jpg" height="320" src="https://img3.doubanio.com/lpic/s27283836.jpg" width="320" /></div>
Japanese Godzilla. </div>
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Radiation affected mutant monster<b><br />
</b></div>
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