Some physicists (you know who you are) declared jihad against the recently announced fusion reactor designs (BS this BS that). Its hard to tell for sure, since there are almost no details on it. But as far as I can tell, their only implied argument is other people tried similar things before and it didnt work out. First of all, almost all attempts are with inherently unstable magnetic fields generated by currents in the plasma itself. If these very people claimed a breakthrough in that, I would be caring BS louder than everyone. But they dont. They chose a classic mid-1950s magnetic mirror design with no(?) instabilities and what is new now is 1. Computers and codes 2. Higher energy prices and simply more money available 3. Kinda private enterprise. 4. Steeper pinch (I am guessing due to stronger superconducting magnets) https://youtube/watch?v=JAsRFVbcyUY&t=10m46s (10:46 mark) Whatever escape is left, can be combated with connecting them end-to-end. They project $100M cost. For the cost of ITER, (which is out of control https://plus.google/+OlegZabluda/posts/bzzDSKNV5Hd) they can chain together 20-40 of theirs. With that many, they may be able to connect them into a [partial] circle (вечный кайф), or afford stellarator-type reinjectors (amortized). They continually stress that small size is what makes it economic to develop (an improved iteration is build every year). For large players (ITER, NIF), I totally disapprove of building large expensive reactor prototypes. I think all their efforts should be put into developing and experimentally validating computer codes. However, LM lab is relatively unique in building something so small/cheap that its actually cheaper than doing that, which is quite a feat. For naysayers, established vs non-established players, etc, see: https://plus.google/+OlegZabluda/posts/jUpGcF9uRze Also see: techcrunch/2014/08/14/y-combinator-and-mithril-invest-in-helion-a-nuclear-fusion-startup/ washington.edu/news/2014/10/08/uw-fusion-reactor-concept-could-be-cheaper-than-coal/ https://plus.google/u/0/+OlegZabluda/posts/Bts2Zcyuwdu
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 21:15:40 +0000
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