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I’m not saying we should worry; I’m just saying that potential exist. What specifically would need to be modified to make D+D or D+T fusion possible? What would be a the neutron emision rate of a ~20 Mw D+T reactor?

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I think that the thorium reactor is a must for further development, in a particle bed it is melt down safe, does not present a nuclear weapons proliferation risk and can breed it own fuel, the particle fuel balls never need to be opened and can be safely buried when used up. The Thorium reactor has much MUCH more science behind it then nuclear fusion and could be ready any time all that needed is funding to build them and public support, the latter of which will likely never happen because of the nuclear stigma. Sure thorium reactors as not as good as a p-b11 reactor could be, but its way ahead in development and all options should be research and if possible developed, in our modern energy starving-global warming world.

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Li6 then (which I think I what I originally meant, but never mind that) why is it inferior to boron?

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Ok here is a idea for a weapon system: what if there was a large drone plane fitted with unshielded D-T fusion generator, they fly it over enemy territory like a crop duster and irradiate everyone to death, like a neutron bomb only no blast, better precision and delightfully evil. Or how about a fusion bomb, a fusion generator is used to try to start a chain fusion reaction, I don

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Well if p-B11 proves feasible, I don’t see why an easier reaction like D-D could not be done. The massive neutron flux from D-D could be used to breed plutonium out of uranium; it could also be used to make tritium from lithium, although what uses would tritium have if D-D and p-B11 are possible, maybe as a RTG fuel. It could even be used to destroy nuclear waste:

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I can see how it could easily be used in the vacuum of space, but how could it operate in earth

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That a good question. What would be the rough dimensions of just the DPF device? The particle decelerators (is there just one particle decelerators with a DPF at one end or two particle decelerators with a DPF in the middle)? Dimensions of the X-ray/low neutron shielding? There is going to be a cooling system as well right? A huge bank of capacitors and high-voltage electronics I assume might be shared between several reactors?

I’ll just guess from what they vaguely say that the smallest uses would be a sea going freight ships

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I don’t see any evidence that boron is rare. From what I can find global consumption of boron is over 1.8 Million tons a year! Although most of that weight is in oxygen (borates), so only a faction of that weight is elemental boron. And considering how its used it seem like one of the more common elements, at least its seems much more common the uranium or thorium. I’ll affirm that Lerner’s estimates are probably within the right range and that boron fusion even at 100%+ of the worlds electricity production would not even put a significant dent in boron consumption. Making decaborane would be entirely dependent on boron, hydrogen and energy, so decaborane

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