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He forgot one alternative besides fission: fusion! And I'm not talking about Iter, that's probably still decades away, but much smaller sized portable fusion ge
by tiborsaas 7y ago
He forgot one alternative besides fission: fusion! And I'm not talking about Iter, that's probably still decades away, but much smaller sized portable fusion generators.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_Compact_Fusion_Reactor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_Compact_Fusion...
The smaller scale might simplify things.
Borrowing from the analogy in the article, fusion is a magnetic field management problem.
- dredmorbius 7y agoBets based on advanced technology not presently in at least the practical demonstration phase are ... highly unlikely. Fortunately in the case of solar, we're already in the active commercial use phase, and there is a long-term declining cost trend. Whether that's sufficient remains to be seen, but it's promising. Nuclear has tended to become more expensive over time, as consequences of utilisation become more apparent.
- tiborsaas 7y agoI agree that it's probably on the verge of Sci-fi, but one can dream :) I'm not sure we should care about costs now. It sounds really lame on the long run to say to past generations that "we could have changed things, but it wasn't cost effective, anyways good luck rebooting the Golf stream and stuff"
- dredmorbius 7y agoMy argument is that the time for dreaming is past. We need to do. Or plan / prepare for the alternatives. Sustaining a modest research program on potential long bets is probably defensible. But don't hinge all hopes on this.