Chris Gillespie The “net energy” is the catch. One **must** consider the LCOE – levelized cost of energy. If the fusion reactor requires that the energy used to fuse *and* make the fuels is greater than or equal to the output of the reactor, then the fusion reactor is a liability and is wasting energy.
(Read More…)
They claim that their Laser Fusion demonstration is working. Uses boron and hydrogen. https://newatlas.com/energy/hb11-laser-fusion-demonstration/
@LordOfNihil Said “[solar panels] won’t meet the energy needs for everyone on the planet, only those who can afford solar panels.” That’s absurd. The used solar panels with “only 80%” are being resold to developing countries where farmers buy them to run the pumps to pump well water for their crops. Anyone can afford the
(Read More…)
This portable microreactor seems a bit unrealistic. The nuclear reaction – more than 3 million watts thermal – puts out a lot of radioactivity. A reactor can’t be placed in an inhabited area without shielding. I suppose they would put the reactor several meters underground where the ground would shield the radiation from living things.
(Read More…)
There are other videos on YouTube besides JHAT. There is one from Tech for Luddites that states that obtaining a supply of tritium is the problem. Another video by a nuclear physicist says that the ITER **research** project ends in 2040 and another even more expensive project will then go to 2060, which by then
(Read More…)
A quote from this IEEFA report: << The small modular reactor (SMR) that Oregon-based NuScale Power has been developing since the turn of the century is “too late, too expensive, too risky, and too uncertain,” according to an analysis conducted by an American think tank that recommends the project be abandoned. Best estimates are that
(Read More…)
The DOE intends to help struggling nuclear power plants to stay online by helping with $6 billion. The utilities want to avoid further costs by shutting down the unprofitable NPPs, often replacing them with gas turbines spewing more CO2. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-to-offer-6-billion-to-keep-struggling-nuclear-reactors-online/618919/
The new nuclear power plants are experiencing huge cost overruns (Hinckley C 24 billion pounds) and decades to bring online due to construction delays. The cost of nuclear power is 3 times wind or solar, per megawatt-hour. It takes decades to bring nuclear power plants online, compared to 2 years for a utility scale wind
(Read More…)
This is an animated graphic of global primary energy consumption by source. Interesting. https://www.facebook.com/TheInfographicsShow/videos/256670979610323/
My comments to Dave Borlace’s JHAT Plus a chart of levelized costs of energy for both conventional and renewable energy. << Thanks, Dave, for the informative video. Nuclear reactors are safe *per TWh* while in operation. The real issues are at the beginning and the end. The beginnings, as you stated, are the huge cost
(Read More…)
