Nuclear
Fusion
One Small Step for
Nuclear Fusion, No Giant Leap for Climate Action
The achievement being touted by the DOE is the first time
that a fusion reaction has generated “net energy.” But the
energy gain generated by the fusion experiment is not even
enough to generate a net gain in electricity — not counting
the massive energy that went into powering the lasers. Heat
converts steam to turn a turbine at a rate of about 33%-50%,
so you need to create 2-3 times as much heat energy energy
as you put in, just to get the same amount of electrical
energy out. The DOE experiment reportedly generated about
1.5 times the amount of energy the laser put in. Not counted
is the fact that it took up to 250 times as much electricity
to power the lasers than the energy delivered to the target.
Currently, the DOE’s experimental reactor can do this once
per day. A fusion reactor would need to do it 864,000 times
per day (10 times per second), day-in and day-out. While it
is true that engineering can lead to great advances in
technology over that used in basic scientific experiments,
it remains unclear whether an operable fusion reactor would
truly be possible. Nuclear Information and Resource Service,
December 13, 2022
Comments on nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a
mesmerizing illusion of a nuclear utopia that simply has no
substance in the near term and cannot live up to its
grandiose promises. At present it is highly unlikely to make
a bit of difference other than to gobble up much of the
money allocated to reduce greenhouse gases without doing a
thing to solve the problem. By Gordon Edwards, Ph.D.,
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, November 25,
2021
How close is nuclear fusion power?
This video presentation, from a fusion enthusiast, explains
how deceptive the promoters of fusion can be, bending the
simple concept of “net energy” completely out of shape in
order to keep the money flowing in their direction. By
Sabine Hossenfelder, October 2, 2021 (To skip the ad, start
at 1:30.)
Fusion reactors: Not what they're cracked up to be
After having worked on nuclear fusion experiments for 25
years
the Princeton
Plasma Physics Lab, I began to look at the fusion enterprise more
dispassionately in my retirement. I concluded that a fusion
reactor would be far from perfect, and in some ways close to
the opposite. Neutron streams from fusion lead directly to
four regrettable problems with nuclear energy: radiation
damage to structures; radioactive waste; the need for
biological shielding; and the potential for the production
of weapons-grade plutonium 239—thus adding to the threat of
nuclear weapons proliferation, not lessening it, as fusion
proponents would have it.
Also:
Tritium
fuel cannot be fully replenished; Huge parasitic power
consumption; Radiation damage and radioactive waste; Nuclear
weapons proliferation. By Daniel Jassby,
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,
April 19, 2017
Confounding Fusion Weapons with Fusion Energy
Federal research on fusion energy is conducted in service of
the US nuclear arsenal. By Robert Alvarez, February 15,
2014.