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There’s good old #4 again: fusion processes inevitably create extreme neutron fluxes capable of turning everything they touch into radioactive waste. Meaning th
by arghandugh 2y ago
There’s good old #4 again: fusion processes inevitably create extreme neutron fluxes capable of turning everything they touch into radioactive waste. Meaning the reactor vessel and all involved fluids and support structures for handling thereof.
Congrats! All the hassle of fission with more steps. Proceed to scream at me!
- pmontra 2y agoThere is also fusion with low neutron flux [1] (among the others: Helium 3) but it is even more difficult to achieve. I'm not confident that any of us will ever see a commercial fusion reactor. I'm afraid that all we can do to harness fusion energy directly is by the means of solar panels. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneutronic_fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneutronic_fusion
- mystified5016 2y agoRadioactive waste isn't an intractable problem. It is simply a problem we refuse to deal with.
- foxyv 2y agoYeah, that's something I've been wondering about for a while. Sure you can get Fusion to create energy eventually, but the engineering to keep the reactor running long enough to break even on cash sounds even more difficult. Anything involving hot plasma and large amounts of ionizing radiation is going to play hell with your equipment. That's not even considering the secondary nuclear waste created by the neutron, proton, and alpha radiation. It just seems like a great way to turn a billion dollars into a pile of extremely hot, radioactive, radiation embrittled metal.
- arghandugh 2y agoCorrect. But that’s not what was promised in the brochure, hence the gnashing of teeth and the wailing in sackcloth every time anyone sits down and tries to reason out what Free Limitless Fusion Power would actually look like as an actual industry on actual Earth.