[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Meeting Reminder: Fusion Update, presented by Ted Kochanski. 10AM ET Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Lexington Computer and Technology Group

[Ted Kochanski]

All,

ITER has always been a big ?   -- because it is a project based on a
handshake deal between Governments [US & USSR -- in the persons of RR &
Michale Gorbochov in 1985]  -- these were at the time the two leading
countries in the field of magnetic fusion science and engineering -- but
the deal was done just to have a good PR value for the Reykjavik Summit

OK the spirit was good the scientists involved were earnest and dedicated
[one of them was a guy who was a graduate student working with me at UT
Austin]  -- but the overall execution was - well unbelievably bureaucratic
and geo-political  .....

Now sometimes handshakes work out well -- such as the legendary handshake
between CEO's of Boeing and Pan Am which led to the 747

In the case of ITER all that happened for several years was an argument on
where to build it -- followed by the sign-on of a number of other countries
that wanted a piece of the action
then the key decision to use superconductive magnets -- but despite the
then recent discovery of HIgh TC superconductors -- with a massive amount
of sci/tech optimism -- the commitment to use the then established Low TC
superconductors -- condemning the project to gargantuan scale

then as the number of participating countries ballooned the bureaucratic
nature of the project exponentially got worse -- leading to the current
ridiculous timetable and even more ridiculous over-all cost

Still -- despite the huge growth of privately funded fusion work by CFS and
the rest -- there is a case to be made for ITER as a world center for the
ancillaries that the private sector start-ups will try to avoid but
actually probably can greatly benefit from-- such as:


   1. blanket sci/tech
      1. especially how to get the Tritium out of the blanket and ready to
      be injected into the Tokamak
   2. materials for the first wall and high heat load regions of the
   diverter
      1. and the overall problem of getting residual heat [not expected to
      be very [if at all] useful for electric power generation] out of
the tokamak
   3. some confinement / stability science involving high energy alphas

The testing associated with the above issues will be hard to recover
expenses for the CFS, Tokamak Energy and other Tokamak or even
Stellerator-based Fusion Power privately funded start-ups

So -- ITER should be done -- just blow-off the associated development of
DEMO

Ted

On Wed, Jul 24, 2024 at 2:16 PM Barry Kort via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us>
wrote:

> Sabine Hossenfelder just posted an update on challenges and delays facing
> the ITER Fusion project in France ...
> Costs explode for Nuclear Fusion Flagship project -- Is it still worth the
> money? <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nscGizM9NQw>
>
> Barry
> --
> The Process of Enlightenment Works In Mysterious Plays.
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