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Re:Lawrence Livermore claims a milestone in laser fusion by wrp on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @05:17PM (#28214966)
The main parts of a commercial tokamak would be huge. I read once that due to thermal stresses, replacement might be needed annually. I seem to recall that the STARFIRE project[1] estimated nearly 60 tons of low-grade radioactive waste per year of the operational lifetime.

[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/002954...

Re:Lawrence Livermore claims a milestone in laser fusion by labawi on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @05:57PM (#28215335)
Power plant waste:

60T/y for 1200 MWe = 50g / kWe·y = 1.6 mg/MJ

Coal energy density:

24 MJ/kg = 0.024 MJ/g -> 42 g/MJ

Not perfect, but depending on what the waste is, doesn't seem too bad.

Re:Lawrence Livermore claims a milestone in laser fusion by chongli on Tuesday August 17, 2021 @07:53PM (#28216146)
Coal is absolutely the worst so it may not be a fair comparison. How would fusion compare to renewables like solar or wind?