Re:Wendelstein 7-X: Gigajoule energy turnover generated for ...
by Guvante on Monday August 14, 2023 @02:20PM
(#37124570)
The US has spent (inflation adjusted) $34 billion on fusion as of the end of 2021. Assuming no real change it would be $35 billion as of the end of 2023.
Fusion has been "a decade away" since before the turn of the millennium.
To say we should just throw $10-20 billion at a power plant and hope something comes out is not a good idea.
We should wait until one of the many multi billion dollar research plants is able to get even 10% of a reasonable to target energy output before even thinking about that.
Otherwise we would likely just sign the death of fusion in the public eye. Could you imagine the backlash if a $40 billion dollar project couldn't even produce power after two decades? (Going off how public works costs and timelines have been going is the reason for higher values)
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2021/ph241/margraf1/
Fusion has been "a decade away" since before the turn of the millennium.
To say we should just throw $10-20 billion at a power plant and hope something comes out is not a good idea.
We should wait until one of the many multi billion dollar research plants is able to get even 10% of a reasonable to target energy output before even thinking about that.
Otherwise we would likely just sign the death of fusion in the public eye. Could you imagine the backlash if a $40 billion dollar project couldn't even produce power after two decades? (Going off how public works costs and timelines have been going is the reason for higher values)