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I think Helion is most promising for two reasons. 1. Even if the more traditional fusion power plants manage to generate the plasma itself in a device that’s n
by audunw 3y ago
I think Helion is most promising for two reasons.
1. Even if the more traditional fusion power plants manage to generate the plasma itself in a device that’s not too expensive (big if) it seems that just the heat exchange mechanism itself would be extremely complicated and expensive. And since they’re thermal power plants you’re limited in where you can put them and how big they must be to be economical.
2. As CO2 emissions come down, I think there will be some focus on thermal power plants contribution to global warming. Helion will still be adding heat to the planet that wasn’t there before, but there will be less heat for a given amount of electric energy. It’s also not going to rely on dumping all that heat in a river.
I don’t know if Helion is feasible. But it feels like it’s the only technology that could be feasible.
- angiosperm 3y agoI used to think Helion might have a chance, until I looked into the energetics graph. At the temperature they hope to operate, a deuterion would much rather fuse with another deuterion, producing a neutron, than with a helion. And Helium3 is not available in useful quantity. No, not even on the moon.