Reply To: Global Warming

[asymmetric_implosion]

We are talking about two very different time scales. The time scale I was discussing was the pinch time. The B-field reduces the electron thermal conductivity in the plasma allowing the plasma to reach a higher temperature for its <1 us lifetime. The ions and neutrons produced in fusion can escape the magnetic field during the pinch. I'm not sure on all the details but some discussion on the conversion involved MHD conversion of the ion energy and a thermal cycle to deal extract the neutron heat. The MHD extraction would be on the pinch time scale but containing MeV ions is not possible in this configuration. The ions run away and get converted to electricity. The neutrons are free to do as they please so they thermalize in a blanket to breed more tritium and extract the heat at high temperature.

The concept is sound in the sense of the physics is proven but the engineering is going to be costly. They are talking about a 40-60 MA machine for the power plant. The designs requires a system with over 500,000 switches operating at 6 MV or more up to 0.1 Hz. The unit modules work but it is a long road to making hundreds of unit modules work together at low jitter.

Sandia is grasping at straws since NIF has come out saying they are the only path to fusion and that was their intention from Day 1. MAGLIF is more psychological than physics driven. If you think about it, what is the first comment made by skeptics such as myself? Fusion has never produced more energy than it took in. If Sandia can show a configuration, practical or not, that can demonstrate physics gain, it will excite people about fusion again. Strong fusion supporters should embrace the potential of breakeven on any concept because it will help the politics of fusion on the large scale. In particular this is a hybrid concept and one might argue that LPP is using a hybrid concept. The argument is simple from there. LPP can do the same as Sandia at lower cost, practical repetition rates and with fewer components.