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New earth fusion energy record

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It was announced two days ago that the JET tokamak, at Culham near Abingdon, produced two and a half times the amount of fusion energy obtained during a previous trial in 1997. It provides test evidence that the more advanced tokamak, called ITER, being built in the South of France, is worthwhile.

JET’s tokamak reactor has atoms of deuterium and tritium at the center. These isotopes of hydrogen (having one and two additional neutrons respectively), are heated to temperatures (10 x the Sun’s centre) to fuse them into helium atoms. This reaction releases a huge amount of energy.

There is more information with videos at https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/fusion-energy-record-demonstrates-powerplant-future/.

The picture from Abingdon Museum has some information about atomic research happening at Harwell and Culham.

No new bridge over the Ock

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I went for a walk along the River Ock to see if anybody had built a new bridge. It did not seem very likely but somebody had seen something on facebook and that is how rumor’s start. A bridge had been proposed when the brewery was redeveloped but the residents didn’t want it.

Somebody had been building a stick teepee.

There was a fallen tree, and some stepping trunk segments.
Ki
Here are a couple of Muntjac, quite safe because there is no bridge.

January Blooms at St Ethelwold’s

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The garden of St Ethelwold’s House is open on most days and you would not expect there to be a lot of flowers on the last day of January.

The winter aconite has the unusual tactic of producing little ruffs of leaves and popping up yellow flowers in winter.  They may attract some insects who are out during the almost dead of winter. Winter aconite is one of the earliest flowers, and the plant’s spread mostly by tubers underground.

The one flower you might expect are the Snowdrops. They spread via bulb division. However, they may still be visited by insects on a warmer day.

There were also winter flowering irises against a south facing wall.

There were also some primroses but they looked in a bad mood, and did not want their picture taken.