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Right now we just buy deuterium off the shelf, it is low cost and plentiful. You can get deuterium by electrolysis of heavy water, see here: http://en.wikipedia
by sloughj 12y ago
Right now we just buy deuterium off the shelf, it is low cost and plentiful. You can get deuterium by electrolysis of heavy water, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water
- kayhi 12y agoPerhaps low cost (25L, ~$600) is relative, depending on the purity, but am unsure how much scale a project like this would use.
- malandrew 12y agoI wouldn't be surprised if that cost is still a drop in the bucket compared to salaries though. How much deuterium is a startup like this likely to go through in a month?
- cpihl 12y agoTotally correct. Right now we simply purchase D2 gas in small quantity so the price is relatively high. But even at those prices we'll probably spend on the order of only $100 per month on D2 when we're operating.
- cpihl 12y agoI love this question because it helps illustrate just how different fusion is from other energy sources. If it works, a 50 MW Fusion Engine would run for 5-10 years on a single 55 gallon drum of heavy water.