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Tl;dr: The US tries smaller fusion reactors in partnership with industry in parallel to ITER. Nothing really new from a tech standpoint, or what am I missing?
by Roritharr 7y ago
Tl;dr: The US tries smaller fusion reactors in partnership with industry in parallel to ITER.
Nothing really new from a tech standpoint, or what am I missing?
- hamburglar 7y agoWell, I don't think you're wrong, but no need to be so cynical. :) This isn't like some industries where they might just pop up with a commercially viable product out of the blue and start making money. The nascent fusion industry needs support from the public in the form of public policy, research funding and investment. I wouldn't be surprised if this piece was basically fusion industry PR machine reminding us all that they still exist and could be interesting in the near future. My understanding is that so far, it doesn't look like wind/hydro/solar can scale to our needs within the timeframe that fusion might be viable (and yes, I know, it's "always 20 years away", but hopefully that changes eventually), so it's still a worthwhile pursuit, IMO.