SPS, Nuke waste, Mass Accelerators

> That still begs the question, "What does it do with the accumulated
> power?" If it cannot beam it to Earth, it must either divert it
> elsewhere or overload itself. Well, both are valid options. If it
> cannot find the Earth receiver target, it should have a backup aimed
> elsewhere, e.g. at the Sun. If it cannot track the backup either, then
> it is inoperative enough to justify its self-destruction by
> overload/meltdown.
>

I don't think it works like that. You can stick solar panels out in
the sun, connected to absolutely nothing, and they entirely fail to
overheat and melt, even though the power has nowhere to go. I'm not a
physicist, but my understanding is that without some sort of load, the
current simply stops (i.e., the panels stop generating electricity).

Similarly, I'm getting PV arrays on my roof in the next few weeks --
grid-tied, so these have to be shut off whenever there is a power
outage (so that the guys working on the power lines don't get zapped
with the electricity from my house). I asked the contractor what
happens to the power from the panels when the inverter is shut off.
He goggled at me a bit and then said it's no problem. Apparently it's
such a non-issue that they rarely even think about it.

Best,
- Joe

Joe Strout
joe@...

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of
comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.