Reply To: NIMBY FUD

[ikanreed]

Joeviocoe wrote: Okay, apparently I waited too long to see the movie.
Overall I really liked it. And this film is not the first to take the idea of “fusion” and insist that it can be weaponized.

In the film, Wayne Enterprises’ Clean Energy research division had been working on a Fusion reactor of some kind. Your typical Hollywood sphere with glowing blinky lights. The sphere was connected to a platform that kept it stable and extracted usable energy. The whole system was kept under the Gotham River and could be flooded in seconds in case of a runaway reaction.
Terrorists turned on the fusion reactor and disconnected the sphere from the platform which kept it stable. Apparently, this form of fusion was self sustaining. And if not reconnected, would explode in a 4 Megaton nuclear blast.

Okay, so there is a LOT wrong with the film’s depiction of fusion power. It seemed that they really wanted to say Fission. But that wouldn’t be new.

If this is the image of fusion being pushed to the masses… then Focus Fusion has a VERY long, and arduous battle ahead of them to convince people of the inherent safety of fusion in comparison to fission reactors.

On the other hand, fusion has been weaponized for a half century now.

Edit: and really effectively too. Specifically, all neutron bombs are fusion weapons.