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Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by thehappypm on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @12:20PM (#33972111)
It’s potentially just a much better version of fission.

Fusion won’t cause a runaway reaction — in fact it’s brutally difficult to get it to react at all, hence why this is an achievement.

It also doesn’t use materials that can be used for a bomb, again unlike fission.

As a result it has the potential to be cheaper to implement, cheaper to fuel, with no meltdown risk.

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by valine on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @12:46PM (#33972618)
Also don’t forget the biggest benefit over solar/wind: it keeps on generating power on cold windless nights.
Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by jszymborski on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @01:22PM (#33973355)
No need to worry about Cold Dunkelflaut!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8xsg9iK5yo

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by dharmab on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @12:44PM (#33972582)
Isn't tritium used in fusion and a potential weapons material?
Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by mlyle on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @04:24PM (#33976054)
It's not controlled. It does help boost some fission weapons. But it's not the hard part or critical piece of producing a nuclear weapon, and you can get by without it.

To illustrate how little it's controlled-- I have a little bit on my keychain as an alpha source with a phosphor so my keyring always glows.

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by devmor on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @01:49PM (#33973809)
It's a fission yield booster. It's as much of a weapons material as charcoal is.
Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by dogma1138 on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @12:45PM (#33972607)
Depending on the scale and reactor design, we have really good examples of run away fusion reactions. Run away reactions are easy, controlled ones are hard.

And whilst I won’t doubt that if fusion ever becomes commercially viable the reactors would be walk away safe it doesn’t mean that you don’t need to account for that in your design.

Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by willis936 on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @01:12PM (#33973154)
What is an example of a run away fusion reaction?
Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by dogma1138 on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @01:21PM (#33973329)
The US strategic arsenal.
Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by blamestross on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @01:24PM (#33973388)
A Hydrogen Bomb. It is basically using a nuke (fission) to trigger fusion instead of lasers.
Re:US Department of Energy: Fusion Ignition Achieved by willis936 on Tuesday December 13, 2022 @02:22PM (#33974318)
That is a run away fission reaction that ignites a short lived fusion reaction. We don't even talk about neutron populations or k factors in fusion because there is no avalanche effect possible.