Quote:
Originally Posted by IROC
I have a stack of PowerPoint slides in my office from a recent ITER design review. I read through most of them. After going through them and talking to the guy that actually attended the review in France, the take-away is that the physics of fusion power is reasonably well understood, but the engineering challenges are monumental. Most of the focus has been on the physics portion of the problem (and probably rightfully so), with the physicists waving their hands and saying, "well, the engineers will figure that out". Well, the engineers are struggling.
I used to think that commercially-viable fusion power was attainable, but I am starting to become a skeptic. At least in the ITER configuration. I hope I'm wrong.
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You need something to capture the energy of the fast neutrons and keep it in the reaction, right? Easy on the scale of a star, not so easy in a reactor. Or at least this was how it was explained to me in my undergrad Nuke-E courses...