42
World's Largest Fusion Project Is in Big Trouble, New Documents Reveal
(www.scientificamerican.com)
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2023
42 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
37738 readers
52 users here now
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
People say that fusion will use very cheap and harmless fuel to generate energy. But practically the real fuel will be all the replacement parts that will be constantly degraded and used up to maintain it's operation.
That's true if of any power plant though. It'll still be cheaper and safer (if it ever works).
I was under impression that for tokomak fusion the enclosure have to be so precisely manufactured that any minor damage requires replacement. If so, then maintenance will be way more expensive than regular power plants.
I think you're making quite a big leap with that statement with very little to back it up. Once (if) a working Fusion reactor design is finalised, then manufacturing will ramp up and the quality of those components will only improve. Until we have that final design though, it's impossible to make claims about how expensive maintenance will be.