Why is nuclear fusion so hard? (2018)

http://blog.sigfpe.com/2018/12/why-is-nuclear-fusion-so-hard.html

by tie-in • 1 year ago

24 2 1 year ago

blog.sigfpe.com

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18637991

Yep, I'm tired of hearing that some "revolutionary tokomak design" (sometimes "designed by AI" and "so weird the human brain can't comprehend it") is gong to solve this problem. A super-special configuration of magnets isn't going to get you magically to a 10x increase in confinement. And by the way, confining hot plasma is just step one of fusion power. Step two is being able to start it up and shut it down without destroying it. Step three is being able to add material reliably. Step four is... actually extracting energy from it! You know that fancy arrangement of magnets you designed in MS Paint? Yeah, that conspires to keep you from getting the energy OUT also. Good luck.

Why is nuclear fusion so hard? (2018)

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