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Isn't testing that approach of breeding tritium explicitly part of what ITER is trying to do with its TBM programme?
by arethuza 6y ago
Isn't testing that approach of breeding tritium explicitly part of what ITER is trying to do with its TBM programme?
- pfdietz 6y agoITER has a few places where test blanket modules can be installed. ITER will not be able to simulate the neutronic environment of a full reactor (and so will not be able to confirm adequate breeding), nor subject the modules to the cumulative neutron loading they will have to withstand. For this reason, a Fusion Nuclear Science Facility has long been proposed as something that will be needed before DEMO is built. This could be a small, Q < 1 DT fusion device, as the goal would not be plasma physics related. It itself will need to breed its own tritium to operate long enough, so there's a circular dependency in the development.
- njarboe 6y agoThere are many such technology advances needed for fusion power to work. This is why spending $22 billion on ITER is a very inefficient use of money for research. Maybe as a diplomatic effort of having all the world's major powers [] (China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the United States) work together it is worth it. Sort of like the space station. Big symbol and cost but little scientific value per dollar. Unfortunately the budget for ITER comes out of the US science budget instead of the State Department. Most US fusion funding only goes to ITER at this point.
- pfdietz 6y agoFusion blankets are not just needed for fusion to work, they are needed for the next fusion reactor experiment (the one that has a burning plasma) to run. This is not a technology that we'll need some day for commercialization; it's a requirement for DT fusion to progress at all.