First! Fusion Net Energy Gain

[Pipeline 1010]

You want a fusion reactor on your wrist? WTF

Don't act like you don't want one too.

 

[brycejones]

Don't act like you don't want one too.

I just need the Mr. Fusion for my Delorean duh

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I just want one in the trunk of my car.

 

[cytg111]

Input 2.05 MJ.
Output 3.15 MJ.

Nicely done. Now the trick will be to keep it running. And, probably more scaling.

And how long would it take to build power plants around this architecture? Max two years please.

 

[Pipeline 1010]

I just need the Mr. Fusion for my Delorean duh

Well not all of us can afford a Delorean so I guess it's fusion wrist watches for the rest of us.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

And how long would it take to build power plants around this architecture? Max two years please.

Years (at least) before stabilized reaction. A decade or two before a prototype reactor, 3 decades of safety and refinement study before mk.1 commercial reactor.

 

[thilanliyan]

Years (at least) before stabilized reaction. A decade or two before a prototype reactor, 3 decades of safety and refinement study before mk.1 commercial reactor.

Yeah...we're still 50 yrs away

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Yeah...we're still 50 yrs away

Fwiw, China will probably leapfrog and build a terribly designed prototype that gets commercialized immediately and may result in some kind of disaster that we'll a) learn some science from, and b) knee-jerk nimby ourselves into being unable to build our own in a reasonable capacity.

I know it's a rerun but it's an easy plot to develop.

 

[cytg111]

Years (at least) before stabilized reaction. A decade or two before a prototype reactor, 3 decades of safety and refinement study before mk.1 commercial reactor.

Ok you got 4 years, make it happen.

 

[skyking]

Do it like The Martian , keep lopping off all the safety procedures and testing. What could go wrong?

 

[Jaskalas]

Fwiw, China will probably leapfrog and build a terribly designed prototype that gets commercialized immediately and may result in some kind of disaster that we'll a) learn some science from, and b) knee-jerk nimby ourselves into being unable to build our own in a reasonable capacity.

I know it's a rerun but it's an easy plot to develop.

What possible disaster do you imagine?
I fail to think of one for a fusion reactor.
Any overload would melt and shut off the system. Damaging the internals, but not much else. So I guess it could become a financial disaster if poorly managed.

 

[skyking]

What possible disaster do you imagine?
I fail to think of one for a fusion reactor.
Any overload would melt and shut off the system. Damaging the internals, but not much else. So I guess it could become a financial disaster if poorly managed.

It could open up a portal and let the Chitauri stream on in.

 

[JTsyo]

Good thing with fusion is you don't get a run away reaction like you do with fission. If you don't contain it, the density will drop and the reaction will stop.

 

[Ajay]

Good thing with fusion is you don't get a run away reaction like you do with fission. If you don't contain it, the density will drop and the reaction will stop.

And there are 4th gen fission reactors that are similar. The temperature goes up and the fission reaction stops - and then returns back to safe conditions. /steps off soapbox

 

[hal2kilo]

What possible disaster do you imagine?
I fail to think of one for a fusion reactor.
Any overload would melt and shut off the system. Damaging the internals, but not much else. So I guess it could become a financial disaster if poorly managed.

As designed now, the reactor vessel itself will be highly radioactive.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

What possible disaster do you imagine?
I fail to think of one for a fusion reactor.
Any overload would melt and shut off the system. Damaging the internals, but not much else. So I guess it could become a financial disaster if poorly managed.

And appropriately designed fission reactors also don't fail catastrophically, yet we've seen that a few times due to inappropriate designs. Just saying, if there's a way for a human to fuck up a sure thing by cutting costs, we'll find it.

 

[woolfe9998]

An update -

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/20/climate/nuclear-fusion-energy-breakthrough-replicate-climate/index.html

They've managed to replicate the original result three times. This is good news.

 

[hal2kilo]

An update -

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/20/climate/nuclear-fusion-energy-breakthrough-replicate-climate/index.html

They've managed to replicate the original result three times. This is good news.

There's so much engineering that needs to be done to actually be able to utilize this burst of energy, and or make it a continuous process. It boggles the mind.

 

[woolfe9998]

There's so much engineering that needs to be done to actually be able to utilize this burst of energy, and or make it a continuous process. It boggles the mind.

It still boggles my mind that we landed on the moon. In 1969. It also boggles my mind that there is now a driverless taxi service in San Francisco, and I see these cars pulling up along side me with no one in them.

 

[fskimospy]

It still boggles my mind that we landed on the moon. In 1969. It also boggles my mind that there is now a driverless taxi service in San Francisco, and I see these cars pulling up along side me with no one in them.

Yeah, while a ton of work remains to be done this is real, tangible progress. Very exciting!

 

[igor_kavinski]

It still boggles my mind that we landed on the moon. In 1969.

That is very true. The fact that they were able to do those things with the technology of that time, is truly amazing and awe-inspiring. It seems that people back then were educated better and just involved themselves in more mental pursuits, raising their IQ levels. These days, there's so many distractions that only the most focused minds can accomplish anything extraordinary and they are like 1 in a million.

 

[Ajay]

This youtuber has a number of videos on Fusion Power. I'll post up just one, because I'm a negative ninny when it comes to Fusion (yes, it's super cool, but not coming to a town near you anytime soon):

 

[Paratus]

That is very true. The fact that they were able to do those things with the technology of that time, is truly amazing and awe-inspiring. It seems that people back then were educated better and just involved themselves in more mental pursuits, raising their IQ levels. These days, there's so many distractions that only the most focused minds can accomplish anything extraordinary and they are like 1 in a million.

Or and I’m just spit balling here the government in the 60’s gave NASA 8-10 times the budget (as a percentage of the federal budget) as they do today.

 

[Zorba]

Or and I’m just spit balling here the government in the 60’s gave NASA 8-10 times the budget (as a percentage of the federal budget) as they do today.

And it was before lawyers and finance people took over every aerospace company.

 

[woolfe9998]

That is very true. The fact that they were able to do those things with the technology of that time, is truly amazing and awe-inspiring. It seems that people back then were educated better and just involved themselves in more mental pursuits, raising their IQ levels. These days, there's so many distractions that only the most focused minds can accomplish anything extraordinary and they are like 1 in a million.

I'm not worried about the scientists and engineers being distracted. I think people who work on developing new technology are highly focused. It's just that the particular set of technical problems posed by the commercialization of fusion are very complex.

The distraction is more responsible for ordinary people understanding nothing about science, not even trying to understand it. Most of us seem to have our heads up our asses, and are enjoying the view there a lot more than that of the outside world.