3 ms·
No, fusion power plants will likely need helium to run: it's necessary to cool the magnetic coils. Unless there will be a breakthrough in room-temperature super
by rnhmjoj 5y ago
No, fusion power plants will likely need helium to run: it's necessary to cool the magnetic coils. Unless there will be a breakthrough in room-temperature superconductivity, helium will still be needed and consumed (through leakages) at a faster rate than the fusion reactions can provide.
source: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2013.01.059 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2013.01.059
- willis936 5y agoEven with hypothetical very high temperature superconductors we still want to run cryogenics to push the critical current higher. At some point mechanical stress would be the limiting factor but there is no path towards discovering such a miracle material. If one were to be discovered it would revolutionize our world. For the foreseeable, we use HTS materials, that can superconduct at LN2 temperatures, with helium.