While this is a really cool science experiment I'm a bit skeptical about its application, even if it works it seems way too complicated of a machine to have large scale impact.
While this is a really cool science experiment I'm a bit skeptical about its application, even if it works it seems way too complicated of a machine to have large scale impact.
Yeah, personally I think ITER is going to be leapfrogged by the smaller tokamak projects like SPARC that take advantage of newer high temperature superconductors that sustain stronger magnetic...
Yeah, personally I think ITER is going to be leapfrogged by the smaller tokamak projects like SPARC that take advantage of newer high temperature superconductors that sustain stronger magnetic fields to miniaturize the designs. Though frankly it's a disgrace that ITER or something like it took this long to get built in the first place. The principles have been understood since the 80's, build a big tokamak, but apparently we need to form an incredibly convoluted international consortium to secure funding to the tune of ten or twenty billion for unlimited clean power. NASA's human spaceflight program is rolling in dough in comparison.
How much of that is because ITER was/is being built though? (Genuinely don’t know) My gut feel is that it’s hard to discount how much actually sitting down, planning and building a thing actually...
leapfrogged by the smaller tokamak projects like SPARC that take advantage of newer high temperature superconductors that sustain stronger magnetic fields to miniaturize the designs
How much of that is because ITER was/is being built though? (Genuinely don’t know)
My gut feel is that it’s hard to discount how much actually sitting down, planning and building a thing actually spurs technological innovation to make the next iteration better, particularly for early/unproven technology.
Oh I totally agree. ITER is a worthwhile project that's taught us a lot about the engineering of fusion reactors. Definitely a lot more useful to the science than all those VC funded private...
Oh I totally agree. ITER is a worthwhile project that's taught us a lot about the engineering of fusion reactors. Definitely a lot more useful to the science than all those VC funded private development firms dicking around with dead reactor concepts from the 50's. I just think ITER should've been properly funded in accordance with its importance; we should've built it years, if not decades earlier, since it's not a shot in the dark, and we've got a good idea that it's going to work.
While this is a really cool science experiment I'm a bit skeptical about its application, even if it works it seems way too complicated of a machine to have large scale impact.
Yeah, personally I think ITER is going to be leapfrogged by the smaller tokamak projects like SPARC that take advantage of newer high temperature superconductors that sustain stronger magnetic fields to miniaturize the designs. Though frankly it's a disgrace that ITER or something like it took this long to get built in the first place. The principles have been understood since the 80's, build a big tokamak, but apparently we need to form an incredibly convoluted international consortium to secure funding to the tune of ten or twenty billion for unlimited clean power. NASA's human spaceflight program is rolling in dough in comparison.
How much of that is because ITER was/is being built though? (Genuinely don’t know)
My gut feel is that it’s hard to discount how much actually sitting down, planning and building a thing actually spurs technological innovation to make the next iteration better, particularly for early/unproven technology.
Oh I totally agree. ITER is a worthwhile project that's taught us a lot about the engineering of fusion reactors. Definitely a lot more useful to the science than all those VC funded private development firms dicking around with dead reactor concepts from the 50's. I just think ITER should've been properly funded in accordance with its importance; we should've built it years, if not decades earlier, since it's not a shot in the dark, and we've got a good idea that it's going to work.