Fusion torch

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Fusion torch is a concept for the application of ultra-high temperature plasmas found in fusion reactors. Because of the special properties of fusion plasmas it is possible to reduce any material to its basic elements for separation. This effectively closes the cycle from use to reuse.

The developers of the fusion torch concept envisioned the use of fusion torches on an industrial scale in order to

• reuse any material that has been used by reducing it to the elements it was made of
• use any ores and be able to take advantage of even minute concentrations

In their paper of 1969 B.J. Eastlund and W.C. Gough defined 3 traps that could hamper the advancement of mankind.

1. Population (food)
2. Entropy (resources, energy, pollution)
3. War (human needs and behavior)

They stated referring to entropy:

"The use of the fusion torch in conjunction with controlled fusion power offers a potential solution to the entropy trap in materials. - i.e. man's exhaustion of nature's stored resources."

In terms of energy needs they estimated the following:

"An "all" electric city of 10,000,000 people, by the year 2000 will need 140,000 megawatts of electrical capacity.^[1] If just 10,000 megawatts were used in a fusion torch then somewhere between 2,700 and 27,000 tons of material could be processed per day."

They speculated that the fusion torch concept would be useful for the separation of uranium from reactor fuel element material.

[edit] Sources

• The Fusion Torch - Closing the cycle from use to reuse. By Bernard J. Eastlund and William C. Gough - May 15, 1969 (DoR, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission)
• eastlundscience web site

[edit] References