US Achieves Holy Grail In Energy Production

[New Colour]

Just the Climate Change connection will ensure unlimited financing!

And this is a problem, because we could build out a carbon-free energy infrastructure *today* with much less than unlimited financing, instead of this wishful thinking.

So if electrons can be turned into neutrons and protons (up and down quarks), these different particles must be all constituted of some underlying common essence/substance, what is it?

That big 'energy released' arrow should be on the neutron.

Electrons are fundamental, like quarks, they can't be turned into each other.

But I think the consensus is that there are no particles; the universe is fields, and 'particles' are waves in those fields. And since they all appear to distort with gravity, it seems likely the fields are just different properties of a single field.

 

[Dr Arthur]

I'm not qualified to answer your question, sorry. I don't know the answer.
Also, as far as I know we can't turn electrons into protons and neutrons.

Positrons are basically anti-electrons. Both have 3 sub-particles and will annihilate each other producing energy.

 

[New Colour]

Why fusion will never happen

I like fusion, really. I’ve talked to some of luminaries that work in the field, they’re great people. I love the technology and the physics behind it. But fusion as a power source is n…

matter2energy.wordpress.com

 

[Friendly Engineer]

Why fusion will never happen

I like fusion, really. I’ve talked to some of luminaries that work in the field, they’re great people. I love the technology and the physics behind it. But fusion as a power source is n…

matter2energy.wordpress.com

Those gosh darn horseless carriages will never take off. Sure, it's possible to make one, but it's much more expensive than a horse.
I don't think anyone will buy these newfangled inventions.

Also the article says nuclear (fission) is dying a horrible death all over the world, right.... The UK is in the new nuclear golden era. There's guaranteed employment for all graduate nuclear engineers in the UK. France gets the vast majority of its energy from nuclear. The list goes on.
Also, breeding Li only happens in current gen fusion reactors that use tritium, future reactors doing proton-proton chain fusion or He-3 won't need that Li Blanket. I guarantee you, costs will slowly come down. Eventually you'll get to the same point we're currently at in nuclear fission, Small Modular Reactors. Reactors that cost a 10th of the price of a normal nuclear plant. It will take a long time, but we'll get there.

 

[New Colour]

Those gosh darn horseless carriages will never take off. Sure, it's possible to make one, but it's much more expensive than a horse.
I don't think anyone will buy these newfangled inventions.

Also the article says nuclear (fission) is dying a horrible death all over the world, right.... The UK is in the new nuclear golden era. There's guaranteed employment for all graduate nuclear engineers in the UK. France gets the vast majority of its energy from nuclear. The list goes on.
Also, breeding Li only happens in current gen fusion reactors that use tritium, future reactors doing proton-proton chain fusion or He-3 won't need that Li Blanket. I guarantee you, costs will slowly come down. Eventually you'll get to the same point we're currently at in nuclear fission, Small Modular Reactors. Reactors that cost a 10th of the price of a normal nuclear plant. It will take a long time, but we'll get there.

It's obviosuly not a comparison, as motor vehicles offer clear advantages in speed, convenience, etc over pack animals, but electricity is electricity, it doesn't matter how it's generated, as long as it's cheap and sustainable.

We really won't see prices drop to competitive levels. Fusion will have it's place in space, and possibly some military, but there are just so many cheaper alternatives on earth. eg deep geothermal for baseload, and solar will become as cheap as paint.

 

[New Colour]

I'd be very interested in any links you have to your proton fusion. I don't believe it's even vaguely realistic on earth. Fusing heavier elements might be a thing though.

But we should take this 'breakthrough' in context. This lab is tasked with nuclear weapons research. Being able to 'ignite' a fusion reaction is obviously quite an achievement in that context.

 

[Friendly Engineer]

I'd be very interested in any links you have to your proton fusion. I don't believe it's even vaguely realistic on earth. Fusing heavier elements might be a thing though.

But we should take this 'breakthrough' in context. This lab is tasked with nuclear weapons research. Being able to 'ignite' a fusion reaction is obviously quite an achievement in that context.

Well p-p chain fusion isn't done in current gen fusion reactors, but in the future, who knows. It's possible to fuse anything up to Fe-56.

 

[Friendly Engineer]

Innovative approach. Let's see how well the electricity generating reactor performs when it comes on line in 2024.