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> only needs hydrogen atoms for fuel rather than rare and dangerous elements like uranium and plutonium hydrogen isn’t exactly the safest element. not that an
by catchnear4321 3y ago
> only needs hydrogen atoms for fuel rather than rare and dangerous elements like uranium and plutonium
hydrogen isn’t exactly the safest element. not that any element is truly safe if used in the wrong way.
- porkbeer 3y agoHow is it unsafe? I just electroplated on my desk and hydrogen was formed (right next to pure o2) with zero danger. Sure, an accumulated mix near stoich might be an issue, but that is easy to avoid.
- catchnear4321 3y agoand you can split water and make neat bubbles of two elements. more likely to shock yourself than make a boom. most elements are safe if you handle them properly. that assumes nothing outside of your control. and no one.
- maximus-decimus 3y agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fURATK5Yt30&t=173s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fURATK5Yt30&t=173s
- u320 3y agoSo he's pushing an energy solution that requires Tritium. One of the rarest elements of earth. And then has the nerve to accuse fission of relying on rare elements.
- refulgentis 3y agoWho is he? Where did he push tritium? Is the word tritium in the article? (Chrome can't find it.) Is hydrogen more common than uranium? Is hydrogen more common than plutonium? What quote demonstrates "accuse", as in, "they had the nerve to accuse"? These are honest questions, I hope you don't take offense. Full disclosure: I live in Cambridge, MA, where MIT is located.
- EA-3167 3y agoThe only fusion pathway being seriously studied for energy in the short (read: next century) term is D-T fusion, it doesn't need to be stated. Deuterium and Tritium are the fuels, they have to be. There are lots of other pathways, but they all require even higher temperatures/pressure than D-T, and we can't really sustain even D-T for any useful length of time.
- ben_w 3y agoFortunately, T is a byproduct of DD fusion. Unfortunately, as we don't have any commercially viable fusion reactors yet, we can't even guess if we can afford to make T in the future.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- pfdietz 3y agoThis is not true. Helion's very clever scheme appears to offer a near term route to using DD and D3He fusion. Helion could also burn DT, but they don't want to due to its practical drawbacks. If you didn't know this you need to pay much more attention to them. IMO, they are the least dubious of all the fusion efforts at reaching a practical reactor, and that includes the DT efforts. Helion is also going to produce prodigious amounts of excess tritium if their scheme works, which is good news for others trying the DT path (although how they compete against a workable advanced fuel reactor is not clear.)
- willis936 3y agoWhy is it rare? Because it decays. Why would anyone make a plan to use it as a fuel without a plan to generate it? They don't. You breed it in the blanket that collects the energy. The energy balance is quite positive.
- chasil 3y agoAnd then, sometimes, you make it into keychains. https://www.tecaccessories.com/collections/tritium-isotope-fobs https://www.tecaccessories.com/collections/tritium-isotope-f...