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My dad was a navy nuke and said that the cost v safety v portability of fission was far superior to that of fusion. That was back in the 90s, so I wonder if it'
by Deadstartups 9y ago
My dad was a navy nuke and said that the cost v safety v portability of fission was far superior to that of fusion. That was back in the 90s, so I wonder if it's still relevant, but a quick search [1] seemed to confirm the general idea.
[1] diffen.com/difference/Nuclear_Fission_vs_Nuclear_Fusion
- kobeya 9y agoThere isn't a single fusion power plant that puts out more energy than it pulls in, other than the Sun. It's kinda hard to compare cost, safety, and portability of something that doesn't exist to something that does.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- eightysixfour 9y agoConsidering we don't have any way of currently producing an energy positive fusion reactor that can sustain a reaction, he's not wrong... but it is comparing a proven technology to one that, despite the hype, is still in its infancy. Fusion has a lot of benefits should we ever engineer a reactor successfully.
- euyyn 9y agoYeah I'd be baffled if someone compared the cost and portability of classical vs quantum computers.
- olau 9y agoI think you should listen to him. Fusion is still vapourware. For it to ever be viable outside a few niches, it will have to beat fission in price, because it will probably share many characteristics with fission plants (high capital costs, low cost of fuel, radioactive waste, huge plants). Fusion somehow ended up being branded as the future of energy. But the prospects aren't looking good so far. Fission plants are probably already too expensive to have much of a future.
- rpedela 9y agoThe project featured in the article, if successful, will produce no radioactive waste, fits inside a garage, and will likely be cheap overall. Unlike the well-funded laser and tokamak designs which get most media coverage and still don't work well and are unbelievably expensive.
- sfifs 9y agoIn discussions of new nuclear technology, it's always a good idea to keep in mind the famous Paper Reactors Real Reactors document written by the architect of the worlds most successful nuclear power program. http://ecolo.org/documents/documents_in_english/Rickover.pdf http://ecolo.org/documents/documents_in_english/Rickover.pdf
- delecti 9y agoFusion has a huge political benefit in not being the same thing as fission. Fission isn't perfect, but it's way better than you'd think if you only looked at what we invest in. If it can be spun as a separate thing from Chernobyl/Three Mile Island/Fukushima then it might fare closer to what it should from a purely objective standpoint.
- Fnoord 9y agoI learned during an energy project at elementary school (begin '90) a hypothetical nuclear fusion reactor would be a prime target for military action more so than fission. Tho I forgot the exact details on why, I suppose the reactor is easier damaged, whereas a fission reactor is much more difficult to cause a fallout with. Can anyone confirm that's true or false?
- cygx 9y agoIt's the other way around: If a fission reactor is insuffciently cooled (due do the cooling system getting destroyed by attack or natural causes, cf the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster), the reaction will continue, the core can melt and breach containment. If a (plasma-based) fusion reactor gets damaged, the plasma will dissipate and the reaction will stop.
- kemiller 9y agoPortability is a concern that is particular to the Navy, and I don't think anyone has suggested they switch...