Re:Lawrence Livermore claims a milestone in laser fusion
by tsimionescu on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @03:36PM
(#28213922)
I also understand that fusion in general is unlikely to be an economically-viable energy source anyway, since the reactor and any surrounding material will be relatively quickly (~few years) be made brittle by the neutron bombardment, while also becoming radioactive - meaning any fusion plant will have to be carefully and constantly torn down and rebuilt, and materials from the old plant securely stored for large amounts of time (not as large as fission waste, but still in the order of decades or centuries). There are other concerns with hydrogen escape etc, but this one seems completely fundamental.
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Re:Lawrence Livermore claims a milestone in laser fusion
by Robotbeat on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @05:55PM
(#28215319)
Some methods of fusion solve this in varying ways, with liquid metal blankets, etc, or using non-neutron is fusion fuels. But that’s missing the point. There’s no path to these more viable methods of economically producing power that don’t run through the path of generating more fusion energy than it absorbs, so we start with the easier fuels first to prove we can do sustained fusion before worrying too much about neutron embrittlement.
Re:Lawrence Livermore claims a milestone in laser fusion
by pfdietz on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @06:56PM
(#28215734)
Even if we had unobtainium that was free of radiation degradation, fusion reactors would still be unlikely to be competitive -- they're just too large and complex, and hence expensive.