5 ms·

Is that a different approach than the Tokamak, some piece to make it works, or some other relationship? What does it mean for existing projects such as ITER? h

Is that a different approach than the Tokamak, some piece to make it works, or some other relationship? What does it mean for existing projects such as ITER? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITER

readams 4y ago
This works in a totally different way, by heating a tiny target fuel pellet with a laser to cause it to collapse and trigger fusion through basically heating and squeezing: more like how a bomb works. It's not easy to see a direct path from this approach to a power plant, but it might involve lining up a steady stream of fuel targets and doing this in a sort of pulsed mode. Other approaches attempt to create a continuous plasma where fusion can occur confined in a powerful magnetic field, and heated by radio waves to get it going. So there's always fusion happening rather than in short bursts.
- lostmsu 4y ago
  In principle inertial confinement is not much different from internal combustion engines where piston compresses the mix, and the explosion energy is harvested. Here lasers compress the mix, and the explosion energy is not yet harvested (but measured). Tokamaks (the other approach) are more like jet engines in that they sustain burning. But currently the burning in tokamaks requires more energy than it generates.
  - jasonhansel 4y ago
    Could it be argued that we should invest more in ICF and less in tokamaks, given this result? I don't know enough about the field to say.
    - lostmsu 4y ago
      I personally believed so since a while ago, for that exact reason. Although I was thinking more of miniaturizing the existing bomb design where fusion material is surrounded by a fission shell made of material with lower critical mass. But I am no expert either.
blablabla123 4y ago
For the Fusion the particles need to get close - but not to close. So the particles in the Tokamak get heated up to reach that. Also it's designed to run continuously but the challenge is the magnetic field so the particles won't hit the wall. (And cool down very quickly) The Inertia based fusion works by providing the heat/energy with lasers, so the fuel would have to be replaced continuously.

readams 4y ago

This works in a totally different way, by heating a tiny target fuel pellet with a laser to cause it to collapse and trigger fusion through basically heating and squeezing: more like how a bomb works. It's not easy to see a direct path from this approach to a power plant, but it might involve lining up a steady stream of fuel targets and doing this in a sort of pulsed mode. Other approaches attempt to create a continuous plasma where fusion can occur confined in a powerful magnetic field, and heated by radio waves to get it going. So there's always fusion happening rather than in short bursts.

lostmsu 4y ago
In principle inertial confinement is not much different from internal combustion engines where piston compresses the mix, and the explosion energy is harvested. Here lasers compress the mix, and the explosion energy is not yet harvested (but measured). Tokamaks (the other approach) are more like jet engines in that they sustain burning. But currently the burning in tokamaks requires more energy than it generates.
- jasonhansel 4y ago
  Could it be argued that we should invest more in ICF and less in tokamaks, given this result? I don't know enough about the field to say.
  - lostmsu 4y ago
    I personally believed so since a while ago, for that exact reason. Although I was thinking more of miniaturizing the existing bomb design where fusion material is surrounded by a fission shell made of material with lower critical mass. But I am no expert either.

blablabla123 4y ago

For the Fusion the particles need to get close - but not to close. So the particles in the Tokamak get heated up to reach that. Also it's designed to run continuously but the challenge is the magnetic field so the particles won't hit the wall. (And cool down very quickly) The Inertia based fusion works by providing the heat/energy with lasers, so the fuel would have to be replaced continuously.