Reply To: General Fusion Inc

[nemmart]

zapkitty wrote:

Oh come on Zap, why would you assume that the only way to increase the fusion output beyond 66 KJ is by changing to D-T fuel?

Would you believe it was your statement of the need to increase the fusion gain by a factor of 6? 🙂

nemmart wrote: There are more parameters that can be tweaked than just the fuel…

But they all amount to increased heat in the core… unless you’re postulating some currently unknown mechanism that will lead to a far more efficient fusion process than is currently envisioned?

While there is some flexibility there, some leeway towards a core that is a bit hotter or a bit cooler, there is just not near enough margin to septuple the output without melting the core.

Well, if the scaling law is roughly the current to the 5th power, then a raising the fusion output by an additional factor of 6 might not be that big of a deal. It might be far easier to raise the fusion output by a factor of 6 than to hit the conversion efficiency targets of 80-90%.

And in terms of heat, if you raise the fusion output, just slow down the shot rate so you don’t overheat the core.