3 ms·
I mean 3He+3He -> 2 Be. This is a fusion reaction that would produce only a stable element. Of course, there would be side reactions and the reaction vessel its
by fulladder 3y ago
I mean 3He+3He -> 2 Be. This is a fusion reaction that would produce only a stable element. Of course, there would be side reactions and the reaction vessel itself would be constantly bombarded with neutrons. However, you definitely would not have the situation we have now, where uranium is burned up to just produce some slightly lighter but still radioactive metal that then has to be isolated from the environment for tens of thousands of years. It would be a big improvement.
- jandrese 3y agoThe waste issue is the least pressing problem the Nuclear industry has. The total quantity of the stuff is tiny. Like you could stuff all of the nuclear waste produced by power plants in the US into a few Olympic size swimming pools. It's only a political issue, and the workaround is to just store the waste on-site at the power plants which has been feasible despite decades of pushback against permanent waste sites. Try doing that with a coal plant and they would be completely buried under a mountain of flyash within a month. So this reaction is solving a problem that isn't really a problem. The big issue is the cost, and that's one area where Fusion power has yet to show any benefit. An economically practical fusion reactor is still a pipe dream, especially as renewables continue to chip away at the price of electricity and as storage costs continue to fall.