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Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion

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Re: Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion

#11

Post by bsder »

bmcusick wrote: post #3

Lerner has been beating this drum for years, and presented at many conferences. And yet no one has invested. I'd love to know why. Either there's a catch to the technology that he's not disclosing (and the smart money doesn't have a motivation to disclose), or he's asking for unreasonable business terms. The only thing I know for sure is there's no lack of capital available for good fusion research. Not if the money…

Simple: people in the know realize that this technique still needs a bunch of development.

This is a good talk about the various variables you need to demonstrate in fusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KuAx1COEk

Re: Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion

#12

Post by kobeya »

Deadstartups wrote: post #4
bmcusick wrote: post #3

Lerner has been beating this drum for years, and presented at many conferences. And yet no one has invested. I'd love to know why. Either there's a catch to the technology that he's not disclosing (and the smart money doesn't have a motivation to disclose), or he's asking for unreasonable business terms. The only thing I know for sure is there's no lack of capital available for good fusion research. Not if the money…

My dad was a navy nuke and said that the cost v safety v portability of fission was far superior to that of fusion. That was back in the 90s, so I wonder if it's still relevant, but a quick search [1] seemed to confirm the general idea. [1] diffen.com/difference/Nuclear_Fission_vs_Nuclear_Fusion

There isn't a single fusion power plant that puts out more energy than it pulls in, other than the Sun. It's kinda hard to compare cost, safety, and portability of something that doesn't exist to something that does.

Re: Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion

#13

Post by rabeiusura »

bmcusick wrote: post #3

Lerner has been beating this drum for years, and presented at many conferences. And yet no one has invested. I'd love to know why. Either there's a catch to the technology that he's not disclosing (and the smart money doesn't have a motivation to disclose), or he's asking for unreasonable business terms. The only thing I know for sure is there's no lack of capital available for good fusion research. Not if the money…

I understand the the issue is the unreasonable business terms.

His team has been consistently ahead of the competition on key metrics for a long time despite less funding.

Re: Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion

#15

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

wppick wrote: post #14

Elon Musk addressed the idea of creating nuclear fusion on earth by saying something along the lines of, "why would we do that, there's a huge nuclear fusion generator in the sky that we can use to generate all the power we need"

Thats what I‘d say if I was selling energy storage.

Re: Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion

#16

Post by olau »

Deadstartups wrote: post #4
bmcusick wrote: post #3

Lerner has been beating this drum for years, and presented at many conferences. And yet no one has invested. I'd love to know why. Either there's a catch to the technology that he's not disclosing (and the smart money doesn't have a motivation to disclose), or he's asking for unreasonable business terms. The only thing I know for sure is there's no lack of capital available for good fusion research. Not if the money…

My dad was a navy nuke and said that the cost v safety v portability of fission was far superior to that of fusion. That was back in the 90s, so I wonder if it's still relevant, but a quick search [1] seemed to confirm the general idea. [1] diffen.com/difference/Nuclear_Fission_vs_Nuclear_Fusion

I think you should listen to him.

Fusion is still vapourware. For it to ever be viable outside a few niches, it will have to beat fission in price, because it will probably share many characteristics with fission plants (high capital costs, low cost of fuel, radioactive waste, huge plants).

Fusion somehow ended up being branded as the future of energy. But the prospects aren't looking good so far. Fission plants are probably already too expensive to have much of a future.

Re: Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion

#19

Post by bhhaskin »

MrBuddyCasino wrote: post #15
wppick wrote: post #14

Elon Musk addressed the idea of creating nuclear fusion on earth by saying something along the lines of, "why would we do that, there's a huge nuclear fusion generator in the sky that we can use to generate all the power we need"

Thats what I‘d say if I was selling energy storage.

Or owned a solar company.

Re: Startup company says it is one step closer to creating nuclear fusion

#20

Post by kemiller »

Deadstartups wrote: post #4
bmcusick wrote: post #3

Lerner has been beating this drum for years, and presented at many conferences. And yet no one has invested. I'd love to know why. Either there's a catch to the technology that he's not disclosing (and the smart money doesn't have a motivation to disclose), or he's asking for unreasonable business terms. The only thing I know for sure is there's no lack of capital available for good fusion research. Not if the money…

My dad was a navy nuke and said that the cost v safety v portability of fission was far superior to that of fusion. That was back in the 90s, so I wonder if it's still relevant, but a quick search [1] seemed to confirm the general idea. [1] diffen.com/difference/Nuclear_Fission_vs_Nuclear_Fusion

Portability is a concern that is particular to the Navy, and I don't think anyone has suggested they switch...
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