4 ms·

The gold is a byproduct of generating the electricity. You still get to sell the electricity too.

• oh_my_goodness 1y ago
  Wait, really?
  • snickerdoodle12 1y ago
    Third paragraph from the post, in bold: > Using our approach, power plants can generate five thousand kilograms of gold per year, per gigawatt of electricity generation (~2.5 GWth), without any compromise to fuel self-sufficiency or power output.
  • one-note 1y ago
    > Using our approach, power plants can generate five thousand kilograms of gold per year, per gigawatt of electricity generation (~2.5 GWth), without any compromise to fuel self-sufficiency or power output.
  • floxy 1y ago
    Yes, that is their selling point https://www.marathonfusion.com/alchemy.pdf https://www.marathonfusion.com/alchemy.pdf
• dwattttt 1y ago
  Gold is atomically heavier than iron, fusing gold costs energy. The language in the article is ambiguous, but I believe the energy quoted is a cost.
  • modeless 1y ago
    It's produced from mercury
    • MrLeap 1y ago
      Right, fusion stops being a net producer of energy on atoms heavier than iron. A star’s fusion reaction ceases when too much of its core turns to iron.
      • modeless 1y ago
        Mercury is heavier than gold so it's a fission reaction.
        • MrLeap 1y ago
          Ah yeah, that slid by me.
  • floxy 1y ago
    They are engineering their tritium breeding to produce excess neutrons to transmute the mercury to gold.
• amelius 1y ago
  Yeah, but the gold price is going to drop ...