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.
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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.