Is the UK preparing to abandon the search for peaceful fusion energy generation ?

[studiot]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67101176

 

Quote

UK's nuclear fusion site ends experiments after 40 years

 

 

Towards the end of the article there is almost a footnote

Quote

The UK government has committed to spending £650m on an alternative UK fusion programme between now and 2027. This includes a new prototype fusion energy plant in Nottinghamshire called STEP.

 

But noting the political situation here and what has already happened to HS2 is this really the first step (sorry about the pun) towards cancelling ?

[exchemist]

10 minutes ago, studiot said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67101176

 

 

 

Towards the end of the article there is almost a footnote

 

But noting the political situation here and what has already happened to HS2 is this really the first step (sorry about the pun) towards cancelling ?

Probably. It's the now usual Brexitty Little Englandism to insist on trying to do it on our own instead of with the EU. What will happen is the budget will be too small, not much progress will be made, and then in a few years someone in government will pull the plug.  

[Endy0816]

Assuming the Labour party takes control next, are they likely to join the collaborative effort?

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Endy0816

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, Endy0816 said:

Assuming the Labour party takes control next, are they likely to join the collaborative effort?

 

 

 

Good question. They might, given that it is the kind of scientific cooperation that won't be that much of a hot button issue for the Brexitters in the country.  By the same token it is unlikely that any future Conservative administration would be ideologically mad enough, or see enough political mileage in it,  to reverse such a decision once it was embedded. So I don't see this being at much risk of becoming a political football. 

I suspect any decision to join would depend on what degree of financial contribution would be required. Given the appalling state of the country's finances, Reeves will be looking to save money on things that are not central to the economic and political strategy. I should have thought it ought to be cheaper to be a contributor to a collaborative project than to try to do it alone. Doing it alone is all part of the stubborn dickheadedness of the current government of fools. 

[mistermack]

The JET programme is not just British. JET stands for Joint European Torus. It's been a real success in taking the technology forward, but it's going to be redundant as the much bigger ITER starts firing up, and there's not much new that you can learn now from JET. It had a massive revamp about ten years ago, and that extended its life by a lot, and it's had more upgrades since. 

So ITER is why JET has to go, but the UK is putting money into STEP which is the development of smaller near-spherical Tokamaks to come after ITER. I think it's the major advances in super-conductivity which is directing the way future developments are heading. It's making different concepts feasible, that were previously out of reach.

[studiot]

More news on this subject

 

Quote

Can German engineering solve the challenges of fusion?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66926972

 

 

10 hours ago, Endy0816 said:

Assuming the Labour party takes control next, are they likely to join the collaborative effort?

 

 

 

I sincerely hope the labour party will not take 'control'.

And look at their planning record.

Their man is "Going to build 5 new towns in the next couple of years to solve the housing crisis".

How ? 

 

This will be after radically removing the 'planning' from the planning process, instead of changing that process from a bureaucratic game of rules and hurdles and hoops and obstructions to nothing at all.

How will that ensure that what we actually need will get built ?

[John Cuthber]

29 minutes ago, studiot said:

This will be after radically removing the 'planning' from the planning process,

That's what the Tories did.
They transferred planning responsibility to a cheat.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/jenrick-steps-up-threat-to-council-with-ultimatum-over-local-plan---64679


 

Their man is "Going to build 5 new towns in the next couple of years to solve the housing crisis".

How ? 

Probably better than the last guy built 40 hospitals
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jul/17/government-on-track-to-break-boris-johnsons-40-new-hospitals-promise

 

[studiot]

None of them have two competent ministers in their cohort to rub together.

And none of them will address the real issues that so desperately need putting right.

So I am hoping for a hung parliament.

At least that way nothing will get done, which is marginally better than the hugely expensive gaffs in recent years.

[Endy0816]

3 hours ago, studiot said:

I sincerely hope the labour party will not take 'control'.

And look at their planning record.

Their man is "Going to build 5 new towns in the next couple of years to solve the housing crisis".

How ? 

 

This will be after radically removing the 'planning' from the planning process, instead of changing that process from a bureaucratic game of rules and hurdles and hoops and obstructions to nothing at all.

How will that ensure that what we actually need will get built ?

I just mean they'll probably have a majority of seats.

I understand don't want to see more waste, but think at this point you're all going to have to build like mad fiends.

Have both a high demand for housing in general and increasing asylum applicant backlog contributing to ongoing government costs(hotel rentals).

I don't know about whole new towns, but it's at least something. Hopefully government uses the chance to tackle root causes and other issues.

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Endy0816

[HawkII]

They made some progress lately. They were patting themselves on the back for having the reactor last fractions of a second longer. The game company miHoYo, gave the Project loads of money to do more into this.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if they cancelled the Project. They could just keep coming up with new Fusion techniques, get funded, then try again. (No guarantee any would work)

 

PROFIT ££££££££££££££££££$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$4