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An experimental fusion reactor is not a large building, or ship, or dam, or bridge. We've been building large buildings since the pyramids of Giza. We've been b
by Edman274 5y ago
An experimental fusion reactor is not a large building, or ship, or dam, or bridge. We've been building large buildings since the pyramids of Giza. We've been building large ships since before the Dreadnought. We've been building large dams since at least the Great Depression. The same goes for bridges. I don't think it's intellectually honest to compare budget and time overruns for fusion reactors to budget and time overruns for skyscrapers. You kind of say it without realizing it - "millions of large buildings", well yeah: if we have a lot of practice doing something - like building millions of large buildings - then wouldn't you expect us to do a better job of being on time and on budget than the handful of research efforts into the holy grail of energy production?
- ncmncm 5y agoThis is not a comparison of "budget and time overruns for fusion reactors to budget and time overruns for skyscrapers". It is a statement about management practices, regardless of the project. The statement is that a blue-sky project such as a fusion system is easily recognized by people on the lookout for sources of unlimited money with no strings attached. When they get control of the project, the bulk of the money will not end up spent on the extremely difficult problems entailed. If the problems are as difficult as expected, handing the money over to people who benefit by not solving them will reliably fail to solve them. We know with absolute certainty, already, that there is no "holy grail of energy production" at the end of it. The most favorable imaginable result is a system much more expensive to operate than a fission plant that produces no more power.