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"Top physicists?" Fusion is an engineering problem. The thing to check here is what plasma temperature/densities they have achieved with their new confinement
by scottlocklin 12y ago
"Top physicists?" Fusion is an engineering problem.
The thing to check here is what plasma temperature/densities they have achieved with their new confinement scheme. They've basically said the results are preliminary, and some of the results are from simulation (which should not be trusted; aka look at how well the NIF simulations worked). This is not particularly interesting.
Shielding was mentioned, though not enough, but it's fairly trivial: if you add enough matter with a high neutron cross section (paraffin for example), and build the mechanical components out of things with a low cross section (iron, I think) it's not a problem. Plasma is the problem.
It's interesting, but "10 years off" is not much better than the standard "20 years off" promises of fusion research. As others have pointed out, controlled fusion has been 20 years in the future since 1950 or so. "1 year off" would be a lot more noteworthy. As it stands, this is just Lockheed informing us they have a controlled fusion program. Anyway, "nice press release, dudes."
- peterfirefly 12y ago> "Top physicists?" Fusion is an engineering problem." So are refrigerators. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator
- geon 12y ago> It has been suggested that most of the actual inventing was performed by Szilárd, with Einstein merely acting as a consultant and helping with the patent-related paperwork.[1] Plausible, since he had the experience.
- peterfirefly 12y agoAnd Szilárd was not a top-class physicist (and engineer)?
- estefan 12y agolol
- Gravityloss 12y agoI don't think it's "just engineering". Plasma physics is quite complicated.
- scottlocklin 12y agoFair enough. There aren't many household names in physics working in that field. The closest ones to that description have their own fusion startups, like d-wave.
- huxley 12y agoI thought D-Wave was a quantum computing company?
- scottlocklin 12y agoErm, I meant to say "tri alpha energy."