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MIT Designs Less Expensive Fusion Reactor That Boosts Power Tenfold

Posted by Soulskill on from the doesn't-require-dilithium dept.

jan_jes writes: Advances in magnet technology have enabled researchers at MIT to propose a new design for a practical compact tokamak (donut-shaped) fusion reactor. The stronger magnetic field makes it possible to produce the required magnetic confinement of the superhot plasma — that is, the working material of a fusion reaction — but in a much smaller device than those previously envisioned (abstract). The reduction in size, in turn, makes the whole system less expensive and faster to build, and also allows for some ingenious new features in the power plant design.

4 of 337 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Failure mode ? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1, Interesting

    and tritium isn't that hazardous of a material compared to most radioactive elements.

    Umm, no.

    Tritium has a halflife of 12.3 years. Even U235 has a half life of 700 megayears. In other words, tritium is intensely radioactive compared to uranium (or most natural radioactives).

    Note also that uranium is an alpha emitter. You can protect yourself from it by wrapping it in old newspaper. It takes (slightly) more to keep tritium from being a problem (say, three sheets of newspaper)....

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
  2. Very few eggs should be put in the tokamak basket by GPS+Pilot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Tokamaks are so unworkable that even a tenfold improvement leaves them wanting. My money's on Lockheed's design: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    That that is is that that that that is not is not.
  3. Re:For variable values of "faster" by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    but I think we need to speed it up and "go like hell" and get off this rock even if the process is a bit dirty. I mean, what do we do when renewables aren't enough

    Any and every problem we face on earth can be addressed more cheaply and reliably here on earth than sending people to another planet.

    The Antarctic is full of water, it's more hospitable than Mars our only quasi hospitable nearby option and if you run low on oxygen you can open a window. Once the Killer Virus/Civil Unrest/Meteor Dust has passed you can return to the continents on an inflatable zodiac not launch a hundred billion dollar equivalent rocket mission back from Mars.

    If you want to preserve the human race, it's better to have 10 isolated and easy to sustain missions than one vulnerable and barely sustainable colony that can't be easily resupplied or connected with.

  4. Re: Only if it works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since the thermal energy is used to produce steam to drive a turbine, a lot of heat is not a bad thing.