Reply To: What can we do with $189 Billion?

[Tulse]

zapkitty wrote: it seems more likely that they’ll use MHD to tap the fusion products for enough energy to power the device itself… but still needing to have a separate steam cycle for net power output to the grid. If that’s the case then perhaps a more accurate phrasing would be “eliminating [em]some[/em] of the usual capital costs associated with neutronic fusion”

Once you need [em]any[/em] sort of steam-turbine-generator setup, that presumably wipes out almost all the capital savings, right? Sure, you might be able to get away with a smaller turbine and generator, but I would think the main cost is the physical plant and gear associated with [em]any[/em] sort of steam generation.

In other words, if they’re not fully direct generation, I’m not sure how they can claim that there is any significant capital savings.