Re:Chinese Tokamak reaches over 100M degrees
by jeffreyrogers on Wednesday November 14, 2018 @02:07PM
(#18452820)
OP at least gave a reason: neutron radiation destroys the reaction vessel. No one who's responded has given any evidence for why this is false.
Re:Chinese Tokamak reaches over 100M degrees
by eutropia on Wednesday November 14, 2018 @02:23PM
(#18452983)
It's not false. But it's also not a universal constant like the speed of light or something, absent a reason why it couldn't be planned for and dealt with, I'm inclined to treat it as an as-yet-unsolved engineering challenge.
Re:Chinese Tokamak reaches over 100M degrees
by pfdietz on Friday November 16, 2018 @07:35PM
(#18473107)
Neutron radiation, plus the unfortunate geometric fact that the surface area/volume ratio of a fusion reactor will be low, compared to the fuel rod surface area/volume ratio in a fission reactor.
What this does is ensure that even operating right at the limits of neutron damage to the wall materials, the volumetric power density of a DT fusion reactor will suck. And that will destroy the economics.
Re:Chinese Tokamak reaches over 100M degrees
by andygates on Thursday November 15, 2018 @09:00AM
(#18459249)
Research into vessel liners is ongoing and promising. 7-X is getting carbon-carbon, JET has an upgrade going in about now. It's a materials-engineering challenge, but not a showstopper.
Re:Chinese Tokamak reaches over 100M degrees
by w323898 on Wednesday November 14, 2018 @02:08PM
(#18452836)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aneutronic_fusion
Nothing is impossible, but some things are highly improbable. I'm all for research, but we should be realistic in our expectations.
And really, you just sound like every crank ever who thought X technology was totally unfeasible and always would be -- until it wasn't. So currently attempts haven't found a solution to the reaction vessel destruction problem. That does not mean someone in the future couldn't figure that one out.