- cross-posted to:
- science@mander.xyz
- cross-posted to:
- science@mander.xyz
Nuclear fusion power was supposed to be a dream come true. As soon as we discovered that you could smash little atoms together to make bigger atoms and release a small amount of energy in the process, scientists around the world realized the implications of this new bit of physics knowledge. Some wanted to turn it into weapons, but others wanted to develop it into a clean, efficient, inexhaustible supply of electrical energy.
But it turns out that fusion power is … hard. Really hard. Really complicated. Full of unexpected pitfalls and traps. We’ve been trying to build fusion generators for three-quarters of a century, and we’ve made a lot of progress — enormous, groundbreaking, horizon-expanding progress. But we’re not there yet. Fusion power has been one of those things that’s been “only 20 years away” for about 50 years now.
The primary challenge is that while it’s relatively straightforward to make fusion happen — we did it all the time with thermonuclear weapons — it’s much more difficult to make the reaction slow and controlled while extracting useful energy from it.
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It’s because funding hasn’t been there. Here’s the most frustrating graph in the world to show it
This is one of the dumbest charts I’ve ever seen.
There’s a channel called Improbable Matter on YouTube created by a scientist formerly working on fusion with a super interesting series about fusion power https://www.youtube.com/@ImprobableMatter
I wonder at what point it becomes impractical as a power source. Certainly it’s a worthwhile area to keep investing in, but I keep seeing research reactors getting bigger and more expensive, and there’s every chance an actual power plant would be yet bigger, yet more complex, yet more expensive. At some point it just never can be a cost effective way of generating power, even if it fulfills its promise
Look at nuclear fission power plants. They had a similar promise of limitless cheap energy- my parents built an all electric house on the expectation electricity would be “too cheap to meter”. That never happened and with hindsight was ridiculous. However now when we most need nuclear power, it’s just not practical. It’s more expensive that renewable energy and getting worse over time.
Why would fusion be any different, especially since research reactors are already bigger, more complex, more expensive?
Look at nuclear fission power plants. They had a similar promise of limitless cheap energy- my parents built an all electric house on the expectation electricity would be “too cheap to meter”. That never happened and with hindsight was ridiculous. However now when we most need nuclear power, it’s just not practical. It’s more expensive that renewable energy and getting worse over time. L
Nuclears failure had nothing to do with it’s technical ability, it could and can absolutely deliver on all those promises. What happened was constant fear mongering (probably mostly from the oil industry (shocker I know)) and ridiculous red tape and bureaucracy (Prob also thanks to the oil industry) absolutely killed nuclear projects in the US.
There are so few of them because it takes well over a decade and millions upon millions of dollars mostly just because of the red tape, not even the actual construction. Even when a company gets through all that thanks to the fear mongering any nearby people are going to go NIMBY rq
Tl;Dr nuclear failed to live up to its promise not because it couldn’t, but because the oil industry killed it
Fission’s not just more expensive then rewewables, it’s way Way WAY more expensive. Even if you don’t count the costs of safely (if ever) securing wastes for thousands of years. Or paying for the on-land spills (too dangerous for remediations for decades). Or the health costs of the emissions (recorded and unrecorded). Or ever-skyrocking costs (and failures) of renovation. Or using loads of ever-scarcer river water, or water from oceanside earthquake zones like Fukushima.
Luckily, we have a reactor in the sky 90 million miles away. Right now, every day, It provides the Earth with hundreds of times the amount of energy humanity currently consumes. FREE ENERGY. Windmills have been in use for well-over a century, yet utilized little. Why? Because when FREE energy is everywhere, up for grabs, it’s hard to centralize material formats in nice, big, very profitable power plants … especially when you don’t count externalities (especially invisible ones, like emissions or mines hidden away in places no one who matters ever visits.).
Takes a lot of propaganda to keep people divided and discouraged while they decide out how to hold onto the bank.
i guess we realized that reactors get old, they’re pretty dangerous so you need extra staff, the spent fuel rods are about the most deadly things you can be around and they will continue to be for millions of years.
with the right fuel, fusion can be what fission aspired to be.
