Re:How close is nuclear fusion power?
by jvanderbot on Saturday October 02, 2021 @01:31PM
(#28730358)
TFV says that key metric is ratio of output energy over input, Q. Q> 1 and you have generated energy.
TFV picks apart reported successes by fusion experiments that say they have Q ~= 0.7 when in fact they are reporting the ratio of energy delivered to plasma (laser cost only) over heat measured (not electricity).
TFV says actual Q values are closer to 0.1 or 0.01.
Yes, that's silly of them to hype. The question is who is fooled. Do policy makers know? General public? The community? Sometimes context matters when reading tech papers but at any rate honesty and clarity matters.
TFV picks apart reported successes by fusion experiments that say they have Q ~= 0.7 when in fact they are reporting the ratio of energy delivered to plasma (laser cost only) over heat measured (not electricity).
TFV says actual Q values are closer to 0.1 or 0.01.
Yes, that's silly of them to hype. The question is who is fooled. Do policy makers know? General public? The community? Sometimes context matters when reading tech papers but at any rate honesty and clarity matters.