Discussion of Hydrogen - Boron 11 fusion

University of New South Wales researchers led by Emeritus Professor Heinrich Hora have made important breakthroughs recently in developing clean nuclear energy technology.

When a proton (a Hydrogen nucleus) fuses with a Boron-11 nucleus it produces 3 alpha particles (Helium nuclei).

That's it. No radioactive fuels. No radioactive waste.

See "Pioneering technology promises unlimited, clean and safe energy" for a recent University of New South Wales report.

Hydrogen Boron-11 fusion

The Hydrogen - Boron 11 "fusion reaction" fuses the two nuclei to briefly form a Carbon 12 nucleus.
The Carbon nucleus then breaks into 3 Helium nuclei.
1.008 grams of Hydrogen + 11.009 grams of Boron 11
=> 12.008 grams of Helium + 232 MWh (or 837 gigajoules).

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 15, 2020

The energy comes from mass deficit. It is a two-stage reaction. The fuels undergo fusion. The intermediate product splits apart.
The energy from the mass deficit, fortuitously, exits as kinetic energy of fast helium ions.
Kinetic energy may be converted directly to electricity.

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 15, 2020

The Hydrogen has one proton and the Boron 11 has 5 protons and 6 neutrons.
Combined, these create Carbon 12 which has 6 protons and 6 neutrons.
BUT the molar masses of the hydrogen and boron 11 are 12.017 grams. Stable Carbon 12 has a molar mass of exactly 12.0 grams.

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 16, 2020

The excess of 0.017 grams ends up divided between the mass of 3 Helium nuclei AND the kinetic energy (speed) of those Helium nuclei - that fly apart as the Carbon 12 breaks apart.
The molar mass of the three Helium nuclei is 12.008 grams, leaving 0.009 grams => energy.

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 16, 2020

In some alternate physics, the Carbon 12 atoms with the excess molar mass of 12.017 grams might conceivably get rid of that excess mass by emitting high energy gamma radiation. This would be a greater amount of energy, but we have no technology for converting it to electricity🙁.

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 16, 2020

Wait, isn't that 12g/mol, not 12g per nucleus?

Also, the breakup should be asymmetric with a 4He cluster followed by a systematic 2x4He split. The mass difference is probably due to QCBE not be stable, perhaps the reason for the breakup.

— ☢Anti-Protons☢🏳️‍🌈📎⚧🐱🇺🇸🌈🌊 - Call me Ishtar (@Antiproton_com) May 16, 2020

Yes. Molar masses... 12g/mol for Carbon12.
Carbon 12 is the international standard for atomic mass units.
It is defined as having a molar mass of exactly 12.0 grams per mole which is 12.0 atomic mass units per (amu) atom. https://t.co/X8YuJF1PgF

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 17, 2020

The excess mass of 0.01713 grams per mole has to go somewhere....
=>Each Carbon 12 nucleus may be thought of as being in an energy excitation state of 15.96 MeV. In that excited state each nucleus breaks into 3 x Helium 4 nuclei and the new mass deficit shows up as kinetic energy

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 17, 2020

Yes. Reaction mechanism details are a research topic.
In 2011: "Weller and his colleagues took a fresh look at the hydrogen-boron reaction at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory...The team found the collision yields two high-energy alphas" https://t.co/Ye79jWh6KQ

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 17, 2020

That might be it.

The end result is (basically) the same from the purposes of resulting energy for power.

It seems promising to me, as far into it as I have read. I wonder if there is gamma emission and what the flux density is. That (and neutrons) are issues with D+T fusion

— ☢Anti-Protons☢🏳️‍🌈📎⚧🐱🇺🇸🌈🌊 - Call me Ishtar (@Antiproton_com) May 17, 2020

April 4, 2011: Overturned scientific explanation may be good news for nuclear fusion

"Researchers have been developing reactors to slam hydrogen at high speeds into boron-11, a collision that yields high-energy helium nuclei, or alpha particles. Those alphas then spiral through a tunnel of electromagnetic coils, transforming them into a flow of electrons, or electricity."

June 12, 2020: Ultra-Fast High-Precision Metallic Nanoparticle Synthesis using Laser-Accelerated Protons

The technique of using high-energy lasers to accelerate hydrogen (aka protons) is finding wide application beyond fusion with Boron11.

Ultra-Fast High-Precision Metallic Nanoparticle Synthesis using Laser-Accelerated Protons https://t.co/wVV3DfiKzf pic.twitter.com/CGQr1cQkq9

— BlackPhysicists (@BlackPhysicists) June 16, 2020

The Moomba CCS Project from 2008 to 2020

Santos announced a project for storing carbon dioxide in its Moomba gas fields in 2007.

June 2007: "Moomba touted for world's biggest CCS project
SANTOS has confirmed it wants to use its extensive pipeline network to sequester carbon dioxide from Queensland, NSW and South Australia into depleted oil and gas reservoirs in the Cooper Basin." https://t.co/QYaj2E7Qak

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 20, 2020

Santos - PM Kevin Rudd, Moomba CCS Project, September 2008

The project has again been floated in 2020.

March 2020: "Santos said that oil and gas major BP is set to invest AUD20m ($13.21m) in its Moomba carbon capture and storage project (Moomba CCS project) in South Australia." https://t.co/Rs8kkIDyKp

— Askgerbil Now (@Askgerbil) May 20, 2020

Japanese clean coal project

JAPANESE ‘CLEAN COAL’ DEMONSTRATION PROJECT TAKES A STEP FURTHER

By Tetsuo Satoh | February 1, 2020

Construction has begun on the third step of a project to demonstrate the world’s first integrated coal-gasification fuel-cell (IGFC) combined cycle power plant with CO₂ capture. The five-year, $73.3-million project is a collaboration of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO; Kawasaki City; www.nedo.go.jp) and Osaki CoolGen Corp. (Hiroshima Prefecture, both Japan; www.osaki-coolgen.jp). IGFC technology has the potential to reach a 55% thermal efficiency (higher heating value; HHV).

The IGFC demonstration project is composed of three steps (diagram): (1) the demonstration of oxygen-blown integrated coal-gasification combined-cycle (O₂-blown IGCC), which was completed in March 2019; (2) the demonstration of O₂ -blown IGCC with CO₂ separation and capture, which started in December 2019; and (3) the demonstration of IGFC with CO₂ separation and capture.

For the first step, a 170,000 kW-class demonstration test facility was constructed within the grounds of the Osaki Power Station of The Chugoku Electric Power Co. During the demonstration tests, coal particles were used to operate a 1,300°C-class gas turbine, while using the heat generated to operate a steam turbine for combined-cycle power generation. The performance, operability, reliability, and economic feasibility as a coal-fired power generation system was verified. The targeted thermal efficiency of 40.5% HHV was achieved for an O₂-blown IGCC using a 100°C-class gas turbine. They are forecasting a net thermal efficiency of approximately 46% will be achieved for a commercial plant that uses a 1,500°C-class gas turbine. Based on these results, they are expecting to reduce CO₂ emissions by about 15% compared to ultra-supercritical (USC) pressure pulverized-coal-fired power generation.

To demonstrate the second step, construction work on the CO₂-capture unit was completed last summer, and testing started in December 2019 and will continue through 2020. Meanwhile, construction has also begun on the third step, in which the fuel cell will be added to the O₂-blown IGCC to demonstrate the complete IGFC with CO₂ capture, which should begin late 2021 and run through 2022. Ultimately, the project aims to achieve a net thermal efficiency of approximately 47%, while capturing 90% of the CO₂, and a 40% of transmission end efficiency when applied to a 500-MW-class commercial unit.

The shape of the cosmos

Serrendipity in viewing the following three videos on YouTube in this sequence conjures an unlikely but curiously intriguing thought...

1. The 1995 Hubble photo that changed astronomy

2. Why does light slow down in water?

3. A Miraculous Proof (Ptolemy's Theorem) - Numberphile

The first video shows images of the early universe as it existed over 14 billion years ago.

Hubble image of the Big Bang

The second video provides a possible explanation for why the light from 14 billion years ago is only now arriving at the Hubble Space Telescope... namely that the light may have travelled quite slowly through the material existing in the early universe (just as it travels more slowly through water) while the outer parts of the expanding universe zipped off at a faster pace.

The third video gives a perplexing suggestion for the Hubble Space Telescope seeing the early universe no matter which direction it is pointing.

If the Hubble Space Telescope pointing in one direction viewed the early universe as a small bubble, then it might have been that when pointed in the opposite direction it would view the outer edges of the universe that had travelled ahead of the Milky Way galaxy as the universe expanded.

Curiously the Hubble Space Telescope viewed the earliest components of the universe no matter which direction it pointed.

The third video describes a process for creating one specific isomorphism of a geometrical structure.

"Reflection" - one type of transformation - "it will keep his elephant-ness"

"our inversion is a completely different animal"

• Points on the transform circle go to themselves. Points outside the circle go to points inside the circle. 
• Lines through the centre of the transform circle go to themselves. Lines not through the centre become circles through the centre.

  

  Lines through the centre go to themselves

• Circles inside the transform circle but not through the centre go to circles that are outside the transform circle. 

The latter mapping for circles inside the transform circle -in particular for those that are increasingly near to the centre- go to ever more distant circles outside the transform circle.

This is a description that uncanningly matches Hubble Space Telescope's images of the early universe.

Instead of seeing a miniature bubble in only one direction that represents the early universe, what the Hubble Space Telescope sees is a vast uniformly distant bubble that light has travelled for 14 billion years from all directions to reach it.

Perhaps the Hubble Space Telescope's image is of Aladdin's Shoe.
The view containing the Elephant has been subjected to an abstract mathematical transformation?

Phasing-out-fossil-fuels

Scott Morrison has failed to develop a plan for phasing out thermal coal exports and for phasing out vehicles running on fossil fuels.

Simply claiming "you can't shut these down overnight" is a nonsense answer.

IEA - World Energy Outlook, 2019 - Thermal Coal Demise

A plan for phasing out both thermal coal exports and vehicles running on fossil fuels is straightforward.

Australia has seen how such plans work. It implemented one in phasing out vehicles that ran on leaded petrol.

1. Announce a date for the ban on new vehicles that use leaded petrol. 
2. Announce a date for the ban of the supply of leaded petrol. 

The period to the date of the first ban sees a burst of investment for the supply of fuel and of vehicles to use the new energy source.

The period to the date of the second ban allows for the gradual retirement of all vehicles using the fuel being replaced, and for winding down the supply chain for that fuel.
 
From a paper by Troy Whitford, Fuel Mandates have a History of Success and a Lesson for Bio Fuels Implementation. Australian Policy and History, April 2010.
URL: http://aph.org.au/fuel-mandates-have-a-history-of-success-and-a-lesson-for-bio-fuels-implementation/

"In 1981, Australian state and federal transport ministers met to address pollution problems. Driving the shift towards unleaded petrol were vast environmental and health concerns.

During the 1980s, automobile associations were critical of the introduction of unleaded fuel. The RACV opposed the implementation believing it was too costly. The oil industry was cynical, too, arguing the introduction of unleaded fuel did not follow from a technological breakthrough but rather a decision by ministers. Without doubt, the position taken by oil companies, automobile associations and other stakeholders regarding unleaded fuel changed over time.

Despite opposition to unleaded fuel, the Transportation Council adopted a program to mandate unleaded petrol by 1985. The implementation policy for unleaded fuel was undertaken in stages. Initially, regulations were made calling for all new motor vehicles made after January 1986 (manufactured within Australia or imported) to meet the new fuel requirements. The policy then called for a complete phase out of leaded fuel by 2002. Prior to the national mandate, states had led the way on unleaded fuel of which NSW took the lead. The decision to mandate was essential for implementing unleaded fuel. It forced car manufacturers, oil producers and consumers to make the transition."

archive-theland-article-deleted

AWB boss 'feared sanctions-busting'

By Adam CooperOct. 15, 2015, 8:58 a.m.

Peter Geary. File photo.

Aa

A FORMER executive of the Australian Wheat Board knew the exporter had contracts that delivered millions of dollars to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, despite concerns he would be branded a "sanctions buster" within the United Nations, a trial has heard.

Peter Geary, the exporter's former general manager for trading, knew AWB was making secret payments between 1999 and 2003 under the guise of trucking and service fees paid to a Jordanian transport company that was a front for the Iraqi government, the Supreme Court has heard.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has brought a civil case against Mr Geary and former AWB chairman Trevor Flugge over the $300 million cash in sham payments.

The commission alleges both men breached their duties.

Mr Geary faces 13 allegations of breaches and Mr Flugge four allegations.

Each breach carries a maximum fine of $200,000.

Continuing his opening on Tuesday, Norman O'Bryan, SC, for ASIC, told the court Mr Geary was the manager of AWB's New York office between 1995 and 1998 and had a good knowledge of the UN's rules regarding trade contracts with Iraq.

Mr O'Bryan said Mr Geary knew of the risks of going down the "limited information route" when dealing with the UN and feared being cast as a "sanctions buster". Despite this, he and Mr Flugge knew contracts AWB signed with the Iraqi Grain Board breached UN rules, Mr O'Bryan said, but neither man raised the alarm.

"It's not difficult to draw the inference they knew of the risks they were taking when they decided to breach those sanctions," Mr O'Bryan said.

AWB's contracts received an immediate "haircut" to return them to fair value once a coalition of countries, including Australia, invaded Iraq in 2003 and took control of the country's books.

The court was told of email correspondence among AWB executives that discussed the payments to the transport company, Alia.

One email centred on variations in the trucking fees, another addressed a new method of paying the trucking company and in another, an executive advised a colleague to consider dragging a "very large suitcase" into Iraq, which Mr O'Bryan described as an "explicit or semi-humorous" instruction.

Lawyers for Mr Flugge and Mr Geary are yet to respond.

The trial continues before Justice Ross Robson.

with AAP

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JUNE 9 2014 - 12:00AM

CO safety threshold 'altered'

• REBECCA SYMONS

A firefighter who patrolled Morwell's streets testing for carbon monoxide during the Hazelwood mine fire has revealed the 'safe' CO threshold was altered by authorities during the event.

A report from 'Firefighter L', a leading firefighter in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade of 12 years, outlined instructions given to his team in what they could and could not say to residents during the fire.

Initially, the firefighter and his team worked with the time weighted average of 30 parts per million as a trigger point for alerting the community that carbon monoxide levels were dangerous and protective equipment must be used to stay in the environment.

Soon after, the firefighter was informed that 70ppm would be the new trigger point for warning the community.

The Department of Health officials had called for the change, according to the firefighter's statement.

"Concern had been expressed about this new figure as it exceeded levels in which firefighters were required to wear breathing apparatus and yet the health department were allowing the public to be exposed to those levels," the statement read.

In addition to this change, the firefighter also reported he and his team were told on 25 February not to give any recommendations to residents, including whether or not they should relocate.

"We were told to say that 'we were Hazmat technicians doing air monitoring in the township', that is all," the statement read.

Firefighter L stated the team chose to loosely advise the public based on their readings to fulfil their duty to protect life and property.

"So when the levels got dangerous we advised the public that perhaps it was not the best environment for them to be in and suggested that if possible they should try and remove themselves from the environment," the statement read.

United Firefighters Union president Peter Marshall has called on the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry board to promise protection for career firefighters, who he said had been threatened with punitive action if they spoke up.

"We want the Premier to guarantee the firefighters are able to speak out on public safety issues without the threat of dismissal or other punitive action," Mr Marshall said.

"They were gagged down in Morwell from telling the community anything and they've also been gagged from submitting to the inquiry."

Mr Marshall said beyond 50ppm, firefighters were required to wear breathing apparatus and if levels reached 75ppm, they were evacuated.

"There was no information provided to the community on these figures, there's no rationale from raising it from 30 to 70," he said.

"Serious questions need to be asked and answered as to why the firefighters' concerns were not acted upon and why they were silenced from informing the community."

Following the statement's release, Voices of the Valley president Wendy Farmer called for the resignation of Chief Health Officer Rosemary Lester and Health Minister David Davis.

"We're angry, annoyed and frustrated; our community should not have been treated like this," Ms Farmer said.

The Express contacted MFB but received no response at the time of print, while the CFA issued a statement saying "the appropriate forum for these allegations to be put and tested is the Commission of Inquiry".

The Victorian Department of Health was also contacted and issued a statement saying "these are matters that should be put before the board of inquiry, that's the appropriate place for it to be further examined".