NationStates Jolt Archive

ANN Bulletin

The first ever International Conference on Nuclear Fusion Power is being held in Abidjian. The Federation of African States has sent several of its top Science Advisors to the Conference, although all nations are invited to send representatives. Within the Federation there are many high hopes for the Conference and we will bring you all the latest news regarding the conference.

(OOC: Just RP your guys arriving and once enough people arrive, we can begin.)

The Maineiacs delegation stepped off the plane at the airport in Abidjan. Dr. Elizabeth Perker, head of the delegation, and chair of the Maineiacs Nuclear Energy Board graciously greeted the represntatives the host nation had sent to meet them.

Terry Requit & two scientists enter the conference soon after Dr. Perker. They take a seat towards the back of the table.

OOC: Oh, No Taxes, if you don't have any OOC importance in a thread, please put it into the OOC thread for E-NA.

The RSFSR delegation walked off the plane to the waiting limo that drove them to the conference.

The Brazilian Energy Commission Delegates stepped off the military transport in Abidjian. Dr. Christiano Valverde, the leading brazilian scientist, and Dr. Vinicius Nascimento, chairman of the BEC greeted the host nations representatives before entering the limo which would take them to the conference location.

Zuberi Kato, the head of FAS delegation, looked around him at the gathered representatives. Not all of them were there yet, but he didn't feel like waiting for them any longer and it was only their loss if they didn't come.

"Welcome, everyone to Abidjian. I hope that you have found everything satisfactory so far. But let us talk business. The current path down which we are researching fusion power uses magnetic confinement to control the hot plasma. While this process has produced short reactions that create more energy than is needed to start it, we need to build a much bigger reactor to see if this particular kind of reactor can produce this fusion reaction on a much longer time scale and create more energy. If this bigger reactor works it should be able to produce about 500 MegaWatts for 500 seconds, though it will probably take 3-5 years to build. Yet this is where the question of funding comes in, since we estimate that it will cost nearly 100 Billion Dollars to build this reactor not to mention the cost of operation. Now, the FAS is willing to shoulder the majority of the costs for this, perhaps around 50 Billion Dollars, but naturally if other nations are willing to help pay for the cost of this, we would greatly appreciate it. Every nation that helps to pay for the reactor will of course benefit more from any of the results that come from it.

Next there comes the question of where this new reactor will be built. Since we will pay for the majority of the costs and already have some expertise with fusion power we offer to build in it in the southeastern part of our state of Cameroon. There is an area of sparse population so security would be easier and the risk would be less. Yet if anyone feels that their nation has the perfect location, please say so."

Zuberi leaned back and looked at the other delegates.

Mr. Requit stands up, and asks a question.

"What are your plans after that? Will you be able to reproduce it very quickly, or what? We don't want to put in any funds, unless it can be finished very soon."

"If this reactor we are building works as planned we can go ahead and create an even larger plant which would produce 2 gigawatts on a continual basis, which is more than most modern nuclear fusion power plants. The only real limitation at that point would be the availability of tritium, which at this point can only be created in nuclear reactions. Yet we hope that nuclear fusion reactors will also be able to create tritium. So at this point, I would say that if everything goes alright and there is ample funding, in 15-20 years we can have fusion reactors creating more than enough energy for commercial use."

Alright, that is soon enough for us. You know, for such a long project, the cost doesn't seem to high. We shall be contributing (EU)10 billion worth of your currency into this project.

"Like I said earlier the $100 Billion only accounts for construction of the first reactor. After that there will still be the cost of operation and if it works, the planned second and larger reactor will cost a lot, too."

"I have been authorized to tell you that my government will contribute the equivalent of 15 billion of your currency to this project, and more toward continuation of the project after the reactor is built. As for a site, we ask you to consider a site we had been condiering for our own reactor, about 50 km west of the town of Grand Island, Nebraska. The site is right along the Platte River, and is flat terrain, so no difficult excavations need be made." said Elizabeth Parker, then returned to her seat.

"We are willing to build the reactor at the location you have just mentioned as long as at least 50% personnel are from the Federation and as long as we agree that the next reactor after this one will be built on FAS land. You would have a large enough source of power for the reactor and enough tritium, right?"

"Yes, we fully expect that this facility will have adequate power. That's why we were planning it there. Our current facility is in an area with higher population density, so we were not able to devote enough of the power grid to the project. As for tritium, that shouldn't be a problem. We can come up with more than enough. And I'm sure my government will not only agree to having half the staff be from FAS, but will likely request that all nations contribute their expertise. We are fully committed to this being an international project. And I can state confidently that we have no problem with the second reactor being in FAS territory, and will contribute equally to the construction and maintenance of the second facility."