Reply To: would nuclear energy really be accessible to all?

[vansig]

for a 5 MW reactor, assuming anode circumference is 5cm, that yields Area ~2e-4 m² facing the plasmoid, so we blast thru that 20 MW/m² limit by a factor of 1250.

i’m starting to think about radical designs.

if it can handle even a single transient shot, then how about triggering several anodes in a round-robin fashion? then each one gets some cool-down time. but i’m not confident that it can.

the anode is beginning to look like a big welding rod, here. maybe a design that can tolerate ablation? it gets used up in the process, just like a welding rod, or electrodes from an electric arc furnace, but we keep pushing it in from underneath.

“A typical alternating current furnace has three electrodes. Electrodes are round in section, and typically in segments with threaded couplings, so that as the electrodes wear, new segments can be added. ” — http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_arc_furnace

graphite then becomes the most reasonable choice. though this does beg the question: carbon ions will get into the plasmoid on subsequent shots. are there any undesirable reactions we should be aware of?