Comments on Next Big Future: Fusion and expected power generation trends

Re: CMEF, Eric responded, "This is based on years-...

2008-05-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

Re: CMEF, Eric responded, "This is based on years-out-of-date info. The $600 K never actually materialized, but LPP is again at the point where we think we will have $ in hand very soon. But this time we will not say we have it until the bank tells us we do."

The most recent news postings are:
http://focusfusion.org/log/index.php/site/article/first_results_from_2_d_simulation_3_d_simulation_plans/

http://focusfusion.org/log/index.php/site/article/researcher_reports_highly_repeatable_functioning_of_dpf/

http://focusfusion.org/log/index.php/site/article/new_animations_and_images_in_from_torulf_greek/

http://focusfusion.org/log/index.php/site/article/discover_magazine_runs_article_on_focus_fusion/

The latter refers to this Discover report: http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jun/29-3-ideas-that-are-pushing-the-edge-of-science (item #2).

The permalink the specific part of the focus fusio...

2008-05-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

The permalink the specific part of the focus fusion FAQ

http://focusfusion.org/log/index.php/site/article/will_is_really_be_inexpensive/

Brianfh: do you have more recent news about the progress of focus fusion ?

I have seen no news since Oct 2007
http://focusfusion.org/log/index.php/site/toc/news/

I did not do any math.I took the costs estimates f...

2008-05-20T15:50:00.001-07:00

I did not do any math.

I took the costs estimates for the whole unit and for kwh from the focus fusion FAQ.

http://focusfusion.org/log/index.php/site/faqs/

I did not do any math.I took the costs estimates f...

2008-05-20T15:50:00.000-07:00

I did not do any math.

I took the costs estimates for the whole unit and for kwh from the focus fusion FAQ.

http://focusfusion.org/log/index.php/site/faqs/

The Focus Fusion research is moving faster than ex...

2008-05-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

The Focus Fusion research is moving faster than expected, but could still use a small to moderate financial boost.

Your math is a bit off, though: "Focus fusion has talked about 20MW reactors for $500,000 and 1/20th of cent per kwh." Actually, it's about 0.2¢/kwh. Which is 1/5 of a cent, still about 1/40 of current costs for any other source, including fission.

And the reactors would be from 5-20GW, and costs from $200,000 to $500,000 each, depending on volumes and other variables. In any case, small fractions of the ~$1,000/KW cost of building other plant types.

FF is far closer to energy break-even than any of the other fission projects, including IEC. It has a ~40% energy-profit rate, not ~1%, and produces no (or very few) neutrons (hence no induced radioactivity and degrading equipment therefrom).

No contest, IMO.

unfortunately there is not enough investment in fu...

2008-03-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

unfortunately there is not enough investment in fusion research and only well proven techniques are researched as tokamaks and Inertial Fusion.

That perspective is really awesome, I hope it turn...

2008-02-27T19:02:00.000-08:00

That perspective is really awesome, I hope it turns as you say :)

I do not see why the other group would not try sim...

2008-02-27T17:41:00.000-08:00

I do not see why the other group would not try similar or the same techniques to boost energy generation.

M Simon talks about POPS and RF supply in this article
http://iecfusiontech.blogspot.com/2008/02/lc-pops.html

I think that there should be many groups in many countrie trying to succeed once it becomes apparent that success is possible. I think there are many groups of scientists that do want to step in and try but that funding is an issue. Even getting the first one funded had a long delay as we know. However, the more promising the new prototype results are then the easier it will be for others to get funded. The technology is not that complicated or that relatively expensive.

$20 million would be enough for ten different sets of magnet, RF and other variations for $2 million prototypes. $200 million for the one that a team likes the most to scale up. All for about one year of ITER membership.

It makes to me that if more people believe the basic results and theory then billions should be chasing this dozens of the hundreds of variations could be sufficiently successful. Just like there are many flavors of nuclear fission plants.

If it becomes less of a question of will they come close to working to how well will they work or we are 1000 times closer and just need to find the right tweeks to get us the next ten fold improvement then there should be a competitive rush.

So, do you think multipole is more likely to succe...

2008-02-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

So, do you think multipole is more likely to succeed?