Compact nuclear fusion reactor is 'very likely to work,' studies suggest

Re:Compact nuclear fusion reactor is 'very likely to work,' ... by sien on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @06:29PM (#24633800)

The Fusion Triple Product, which is the key determinant of whether there is a self-sustaining reaction, increased faster than Moore's law up until about 2005. Then all the money went into ITER.

https://physicsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2004/01/pwhoa4_0...

From the article at :

https://physicsworld.com/a/controlled-fusion-the-next-step/

more information about the triple product and the Lawson Criterion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawson_criterion

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Re:Compact nuclear fusion reactor is 'very likely to work,' ... by jagiammona on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @08:34PM (#24634666)

Here's a great article showing progress improving the triple product until now. https://www.fusionenergybase.com/article/measuring-progress-...

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Re:Compact nuclear fusion reactor is 'very likely to work,' ... by nmca on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @04:28AM (#24636688)

Well now I really want to see the projected SPARC reactor on that plot. Does anyone have the necessary familiarity to add it?

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Re:Compact nuclear fusion reactor is 'very likely to work,' ... by sam on Wednesday September 30, 2020 @11:36AM (#24639860)

Author of that article and plot here. SPARC is projected to have energy gain Q >=2 and potentially up to 11[1]. ITER is projected to achieve Q of >=10[2] so I would guess that SPARC's expected triple product would be in the same ballpark as the projected ITER datapoint, perhaps slightly lower, though potentially the same. We'll see!

[1] http://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377820001075

[2] https://www.iter.org/newsline/-/2845

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