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Re:Wendelstein 7-X stellarator getting ready for the next ph... by wyager on Friday April 28, 2017 @04:44PM (#14222918)
It's great how even our most advanced energy generation technologies are still just steam boilers at heart. That hasn't changed in 305 years.
Re:Wendelstein 7-X stellarator getting ready for the next ph... by zlynx on Friday April 28, 2017 @05:36PM (#14223264)
I've read about some theoretical designs that would open the field to allow all negative charged particles out and use these electrons as power directly.

But first, designs would have to be able to keep the containment pressure/temperature much higher than it currently is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneutronic_fusion#Energy_captu...

Re:Wendelstein 7-X stellarator getting ready for the next ph... by boznz on Friday April 28, 2017 @08:14PM (#14224210)
The Focus Fusion http://lppfusion.com/ reactor does direct conversion to electricity.

A Shame these guys are the least funded contender in this race and could do their research on a rounding error from ITAR.

Re:Wendelstein 7-X stellarator getting ready for the next ph... by djsumdog on Friday April 28, 2017 @05:35PM (#14223253)
Steam initially, but effect ways of converting all that heat to electricity are pretty limited at the moment.

One way to convert the heat from radioactive decay into electricity is through thermocouples (typically found in RTGs used on deep space probes and Mars exploration craft). They're incredibly inefficient though, less efficient than simply turning steam turbines.