‽istis ponders power (weekending January 13th
2024)
This weekending ‽istis wonders again about power.
Previous wonderings and ponderings have focused on political,
social, imperial, state and nation, economic power and the power-ful, but a
link to an article from ‘X’ sparked (pun intended) an interest not in these forms of power nor of power and energy derived from nuclear fission (though the Paul Whitehouse and Bob
Mortimer’s UK ‘Gone Hogmanay Fishing’[i]
was another gem, ‽istis
reckons!) but from nuclear fusion: ‘the process that takes place in the heart
of stars and provides the power that drives the universe.’[ii]
The article led with this claim: ‘Magnetic confinement fusion
has had its Wright Brothers moment. Find out why it could be game-changing for
the energy sector’.[iii]
What is the ‘game-changing' development? Well not something new that
occurred this week but, in December 2022, US government scientists at the
National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in
California apparently achieved a ‘net energy gain in a fusion reaction’, i.e: the
experiment’s process produced more energy than that taken to generate it.
Francesca Ferrazza, Head of Magnetic Fusion Initiatives at the
Italian energy company Eni, is quoted: “Fusion could be a real game-changer in
the energy field.” “According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, fusion
could generate approximately four million times more energy per kilogram of
fuel than burning coal. This can make fusion a crucial element for the
decarbonisation of the energy sector.”
Another interesting source of information (in this brief foray into the issue) is the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)[iv] and an article by Matteo Barbarino (from the agency’s Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications). The basic physics is explained - and claims are made: ‘…if nuclear fusion can be replicated on earth at an industrial scale, it could provide virtually limitless clean, safe and affordable energy to meet the world’s demand.’ A few grammes of key materials (deuterium inexpensively derived from seawater, tritium derived from ‘naturally abundant’ lithium) can apparently generate a terajoule (and ‽istis has learnt that any quantity that starts with tera- tends to be a big amount!) of energy, the suggested equivalent energy one person in a ‘developed’ country typically uses over 60 years (is this a helpful figure‽).
Apparently, words such as ‘safe’ and ‘clean’ can be used with confidence (no nuclear waste, no risk of runaway reactions or a meltdown, no carbon dioxide or other harmful ‘greenhouse’ gases released into the atmosphere).
Research – seemingly co-operative and collaborative (!) – is underway
in more than 50 countries and such global partnerships and collaboration (to mobilise
and co-ordinate resources) is one of the factors considered necessary for
successful further development and ‘roll out’.
The IAEA suggests that another important requirement is the
development of necessary non-material infrastructure – including industry standards
and good practice.
Well, all very interesting, exciting and positive – thinks ‽istis…
but perhaps there are some questions that possibly, maybe link the topic of
generating near limitless, clean and safe electrical energy ‘power’ with
the other forms of power referred to in the first few lines, above:
·
Who
will own the means of production?
·
Who
will own the means of provision and distribution?
·
Who
will own the means of persuasion, influence, decision-making, regulation and governance?
Ownership, control, profit, availability and access… and we seem
to still be in the territory of social stratification, inclusion and exclusion,
inequality of benefit, lives with greater comfort and opportunity alongside and
systemically connected to lives with greater desperation and with such lesser comfort
and opportunity… and what about all those ‘things’ that will be more cleanly,
safely and cheaply powered (and the question of ownership of the means of production,
provision and persuasion can be extended perhaps to all the ‘things’)... and what if they turn out to be weapons and tasers
and water cannons and uniforms, and bricks for prisons and walls and barriers
and checkpoints…‽
So if the fusion genie in practice as well as theory now has sufficient
net energy gain to begin to clamber out of the bottle, perhaps the final set of questions that ‽istis is left pondering this weekending is:
· what could I, or you, or they, or (just perhaps, possibly, maybe an all-embracing) ‘we’ do with such energy, such power‽
·
could
and would it be used any more for good or ill than how I, or you, or they, or we use power and energy already‽
…and what might be the
consequences‽
NB:
further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on X/Twitter with replies, retweets (which don’t
necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’:
@Pistis_wonders.
X/Twitter ‘follows’ and
respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
[i] https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001txx1/mortimer-whitehouse-gone-fishing-gone-hogmanay-fishing
[iii] https://www.ft.com/partnercontent/eni/can-reproducing-the-power-of-the-sun-drive-zero-carbon-energy.html
NB: content paid for by ENI (an Italian
energy company) and produced in partnership with the Financial Times Commercial
department.
