Reply To: Focus fusion and transportation

[Rematog]

And hardware made of diamond does not sound like it would be “off the shelf” or easily duplicated at thousands of sites in the US alone. (remember, you would need 954 sites of 1 GW capacity to equal the current installed fossil and fission fuel capacity in the US (98 GW of the remaining 134 GW of capacity is hydropower, solar is 1/2 a GW, wind is now up to almost 17 GW.)

And how is this GW of electric going to be made? If the X-rays are generated in a “sphere N meter’s in diameter”, how is all of this heat getting out? If this is done with a steam system and heat exchangers… I see the plant costing $1000/kw for the steam system equipment alone. If this reactor costs only $200 million for a 1 GW machine, this brings it to $1,200/kw… not too expensive by today’s standards.. but not cheap.

Remember, for the $1,000/kw steam cycle, I’m including not just the turbine/generator, but also the condensate pumps, boiler feed pumps, condenser, cooling tower, circulating water pumps, feed water heaters (normally 6-7 stages), make-up water treatment (ultra-pure water to protect the turbine from being destroyed by steam impurities, ERPI guidelines require <5 micro-mho conductivity), unit transformers, motor control centers (control and supply of power to all of this equipment), piping, valves, instrumentation, DCS system, turbine controls, control room, turbine foundations, turbine building and site, including offices and shops.

So $1,000/kw assumes steam is made in a black box labeled “miracle occurs here” that costs nothing to build.