Reply To: Energy Output – MW & GW

[zapkitty]

vansig wrote: you might be able to do a lot using proton bombardment

… well, at least in current concepts, protons are what the accelerators are supposed to be accelerating. They are fired into a target just in front of the waste and the spray of neurons spalled off of the target are what actually do the transmuting.

But currently such plans are hobbled both by energy costs and by proposed fixes that try to recover some of the heat generated during the process as electricity to help power the accelerators.

And, again, FF shortcuts the vicious cycle: simply power the accelerators and be done with it.

It will be a big, big project and much engineering will need to be done but that is true of any plan that would actually reduce the waste.

What aneutronic fusion brings to the table is greatly reduced cost and greatly increased safety from the dual whammy of dirt-cheap power… and not having to make the waste a part of the power system.