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From: Bill Sloman <bill.sloman@ieee.org>
Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design
Subject: Re: New fusion power system test creates 300,000 degrees C plasma
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2024 14:12:42 +1100
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On 30/11/2024 2:27 am, Jan Panteltje wrote:
> On a sunny day (Sat, 30 Nov 2024 01:15:15 +1100) it happened Bill Slowman
> <bill.sloman@ieee.org> wrote in <vici9s$13umg$1@dont-email.me>:
> 
>> On 30/11/2024 12:00 am, Jan Panteltje wrote:
>>> A nuclear fusion startup just reached a milestone
>>> in its bid to commercialize unlimited clean energy :
>>>    https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/29/climate/nuclear-fusion-openstar/index.html
>>>
>>> ITER inside out :-)
>>
>> You really can't read, can you. It's got its plasma to 300,000 degrees
>> K, and ITER have got theirs to 150,000,000 degrees K, about 500 times
>> hotter. It maybe some kind of milestone for OpenStar, but they've got
>> lot of milestones to go before they'll have a product that they can sell.
>>
>> And they are still trying to fuse hydrogen or deuterium, which produces
>> a lot of neutrons.
>>
>> https://hb11.energy/
> 
> Looks a bit like that thing Larking was making stuff for, laser ignition
> Not much coming from that at all.

The US national ignition facitility was mainly intended to work out 
whether nuclear bombs would go off. The nuclear fusion stuff is just 
done to keep the scientists happy.

> Just playing stuff for kids/ training stuff for aspiring nuclear fishisicks..
> That was discussed here last year or so.
> 
>> is trying to fuse hydrogen and boron, which doesn't produce neutrons -
>> if the machine ever works it will last a whole lot longer than hydrogen
>> fusion machines, which will be damaged by the stray neutrons they
>> produce, if they ever work.
> 
> Would be nice to have small portable power sources, for in the home and cars etc etc.

Of course it would.

> Plutonium is dangerous, but the Viking spacecraft are still working after many decades.

Terrorist can't get at them to take them apart and use the Pu-239 to 
make an atomic bomb.

> Anyways after WW3 all will radiate, so who cares.

With any luck, there won't be a WW3.

> As to ITER, it is a political job creation project of and for Albert E parrots.

All big science projects make work for scientists and engineers. That 
doesn't make them worthless.

> The only thing that will come of it is that they find to make it work they will need an ever bigger one...

In your ever-so-expert opinion.

> I like the Farnsworth fusor, fusion any kid can do.
>   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusor

Of course you do. It's much too small to generate more energy than you 
have put into it to get the fusion to take place at all.

Being big isn't a virtue. Being big enough to do something useful is.

-- 
Bill Sloman, Sydney