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All I could glean from the article was that they halved their own previous energy costs for cooling the superconducting magnets. Which is pretty cool if you ne

by sfink 5y ago

All I could glean from the article was that they halved their own previous energy costs for cooling the superconducting magnets. Which is pretty cool if you need some really powerful superconducting magnets and you have to keep them going for long periods of time. They'd probably be great for levitating frogs. I don't know if these magnets would be useful for MRIs. Like the fMRIs that you need to keep going for a while or something. I hope so; more people having sex in fMRI machines can only be a good thing. Just because the mental image is so amusing. I didn't see any hint that this was particularly significant for commercial fusion. Instead of generating X amount of power and consuming Y for magnets plus Z for other stuff, where Y+Z >> X, now you're using Y/2 for magnets, and Y/2+Z >> X. Yay?

stevesimmons 5y ago
>... more people having sex in fMRI machines can only be a good thing The British Medical Journal actually published a serious article on this, back in December 1999, complete with cross-sectional images. https://www.bmj.com/content/319/7225/1596 https://www.bmj.com/content/319/7225/1596 I remember it well as my MBA back then had a Healthcare Management elective. Assessment included a short presentation on a recent advances in medical technology. So this was what I talked on.
willis936 5y ago
Commercial fusion's biggest barrier isn't neutron flux density or embrittlement; it's cap ex. When articles come out about plasma performance improvements people come out to say that fusion machines will never be afforable. When articles come out about cost reduction people come out to say that fusion machines will never work. None of these comments add any insight into the feasibility of solving the problems.
Nikbul 5y ago
Let's play further down. Let's say Y+Z = 2X, and Y=Z. So now Y/2+Z=1.5X Makes a break even or even net positive point a lot closer

by sfink 5y ago

stevesimmons 5y ago

>... more people having sex in fMRI machines can only be a good thing The British Medical Journal actually published a serious article on this, back in December 1999, complete with cross-sectional images. https://www.bmj.com/content/319/7225/1596 https://www.bmj.com/content/319/7225/1596 I remember it well as my MBA back then had a Healthcare Management elective. Assessment included a short presentation on a recent advances in medical technology. So this was what I talked on.

willis936 5y ago

Commercial fusion's biggest barrier isn't neutron flux density or embrittlement; it's cap ex. When articles come out about plasma performance improvements people come out to say that fusion machines will never be afforable. When articles come out about cost reduction people come out to say that fusion machines will never work. None of these comments add any insight into the feasibility of solving the problems.

Nikbul 5y ago

Let's play further down. Let's say Y+Z = 2X, and Y=Z. So now Y/2+Z=1.5X Makes a break even or even net positive point a lot closer