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!
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.
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.