3 ms·

Honest question: How much of this is engineering and how much is regulation? Everyone overestimated development cycles but if there was 0 regulation and we live

by wand3r 3y ago

Honest question: How much of this is engineering and how much is regulation? Everyone overestimated development cycles but if there was 0 regulation and we lived in Ayn Rands' wet dream, do you think they could be close to delivering, or no?

light_hue_1 3y ago
There's no regulation holding them back. They can do whatever they want. What regulation can possibly be in the way?
- wand3r 3y ago
  Wow, is this really the case? They could go build a novel reactor without any regulatory oversight? I guess I'll look into this but honestly doesn't seem like it would be true for the US
  - DennisP 3y ago
    The situation was unclear for a while, but a few months ago the NRC decided to regulate fusion reactors like particle accelerators and hospital devices, rather than like fission reactors. It was a unanimous decision by the five commissioners.[1] According to the CEO of Helion, this essentially means they get regulated at the state level, in their case by the WA Department of Health.[2] A poorly-designed fission reactor can turn into Chernobyl. A poorly-designed fusion reactor just doesn't work. It's not the same level of risk at all. [1] https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/nrc-decision-separates-fusion-energy-regulation-from-nuclear-fission/ https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/nrc-decision-separ... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/18k8roi/age_of_miracles_the_fusion_episodes/ https://www.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/18k8roi/age_of_mira...
    - wand3r 3y ago
      Thanks for the detailed info!
K0balt 3y ago
No. Experimental fusion reactors are not subject to the kind of scrutiny that even a coal plant would be subjected to. (Essentially very little oversight unless you start emitting a lot of ionizing radiation outside of your containment structure) When they outgrow the lab, that will start to change a bit, but we are far from net positive even in a lab environment.

by wand3r 3y ago

light_hue_1 3y ago

There's no regulation holding them back. They can do whatever they want. What regulation can possibly be in the way?

wand3r 3y ago
Wow, is this really the case? They could go build a novel reactor without any regulatory oversight? I guess I'll look into this but honestly doesn't seem like it would be true for the US
- DennisP 3y ago
  The situation was unclear for a while, but a few months ago the NRC decided to regulate fusion reactors like particle accelerators and hospital devices, rather than like fission reactors. It was a unanimous decision by the five commissioners.[1] According to the CEO of Helion, this essentially means they get regulated at the state level, in their case by the WA Department of Health.[2] A poorly-designed fission reactor can turn into Chernobyl. A poorly-designed fusion reactor just doesn't work. It's not the same level of risk at all. [1] https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/nrc-decision-separates-fusion-energy-regulation-from-nuclear-fission/ https://www.fusionindustryassociation.org/nrc-decision-separ... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/18k8roi/age_of_miracles_the_fusion_episodes/ https://www.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/18k8roi/age_of_mira...
  - wand3r 3y ago
    Thanks for the detailed info!

K0balt 3y ago

No. Experimental fusion reactors are not subject to the kind of scrutiny that even a coal plant would be subjected to. (Essentially very little oversight unless you start emitting a lot of ionizing radiation outside of your containment structure) When they outgrow the lab, that will start to change a bit, but we are far from net positive even in a lab environment.