https://futurism.com/researchers-overcame-key-barrier-fusion-power/amp/

The idea of a disposable fusion reactor makes sense. It’s no joke trying to get a reusable device that will handle 100 million degrees without degradation. Researchers have now made a step in that direction. But I worry about atoms from the wall in this new system contaminating the plasma.

The new exhaust system, which was developed by scientists at the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, directs the plasma to travel in a longer path through the tokamak in order to cool down.

Then the cooler plasma will come into contact with a “sacrificial wall” designed to be replaced every few years as the plasma breaks it down.

The researchers hope the new exhaust system will be used at an experimental reactor in France called ITER. The international team working on ITER, which is scheduled to go live in 2025, hope that it will be the first reactor in history to produce net energy — which would be a meaningful step toward practical fusion power plants.

“We’re here to commercialize fusion power,”

mollwollfumble said:

https://futurism.com/researchers-overcame-key-barrier-fusion-power/amp/

The idea of a disposable fusion reactor makes sense. It’s no joke trying to get a reusable device that will handle 100 million degrees without degradation. Researchers have now made a step in that direction. But I worry about atoms from the wall in this new system contaminating the plasma.

The new exhaust system, which was developed by scientists at the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, directs the plasma to travel in a longer path through the tokamak in order to cool down.

Then the cooler plasma will come into contact with a “sacrificial wall” designed to be replaced every few years as the plasma breaks it down.

The researchers hope the new exhaust system will be used at an experimental reactor in France called ITER. The international team working on ITER, which is scheduled to go live in 2025, hope that it will be the first reactor in history to produce net energy — which would be a meaningful step toward practical fusion power plants.

“We’re here to commercialize fusion power,”

I could be wrong, but it seems unlikely to me that the total cost of constructing and managing local fusion power will ever be less than the cost of collecting and storing an equivalent amount of energy from our existing distant fusion plant.

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

https://futurism.com/researchers-overcame-key-barrier-fusion-power/amp/

The idea of a disposable fusion reactor makes sense. It’s no joke trying to get a reusable device that will handle 100 million degrees without degradation. Researchers have now made a step in that direction. But I worry about atoms from the wall in this new system contaminating the plasma.

The new exhaust system, which was developed by scientists at the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority, directs the plasma to travel in a longer path through the tokamak in order to cool down.

Then the cooler plasma will come into contact with a “sacrificial wall” designed to be replaced every few years as the plasma breaks it down.

The researchers hope the new exhaust system will be used at an experimental reactor in France called ITER. The international team working on ITER, which is scheduled to go live in 2025, hope that it will be the first reactor in history to produce net energy — which would be a meaningful step toward practical fusion power plants.

“We’re here to commercialize fusion power,”

I could be wrong, but it seems unlikely to me that the total cost of constructing and managing local fusion power will ever be less than the cost of collecting and storing an equivalent amount of energy from our existing distant fusion plant.

It seems like it doesn’t it, the shear amount of effort and technology required just for these test reactors is astonishing. Kudos for the human race for trying to get it to work but unless some break through occurs that drastically reduces cost and effort it may not be viable commercially, for power generation itself regardless of cost perhaps so.