Fusion Power's Newest Problem Is People Secretly Making Nukes

[highplainsdem]

Source: Gizmodo

Billions of dollars in venture capital and state investments have recently been poured into efforts to finally make nuclear fusion a viable energy source—big bets that a futuristic leap is coming soon, despite decades of premature prognostications.

Plenty of hurdles remain, of course, from engineering a system that can safely contain the literal power of a burning Sun to ensuring that such a system would be stable enough, consistently enough, for 24/7 use as an energy utility. Now, a particle physicist at Virginia Tech and physicists at Princeton have added a new hurdle to this race to crack fusion: How do we prevent rogue actors from secretly using their fusion plant to stockpile a nuclear arsenal?

Patrick Huber at VT’s Center for Neutrino Physics and Robert Goldston at Princeton’s Plasma Physics Laboratory zeroed in on this unintended consequence specifically for the case of deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion reactors. DT methods have shown great promise in U.S. government tests recently, tapping into a flow of energetic neutron particles created as its supply of hydrogen isotopes fuses into helium atoms. But those substantial neutron fluxes, Huber and Goldston noted, “could be used for covert production of fissile materials.”

“When operated in such a mode, a gigawatt scale fusion reactor could in principle produce tens of kilograms of plutonium or uranium-233 per week,” the researchers calculated in their new study, published Tuesday in the journal Physical Review Applied.

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Read more: https://gizmodo.com/fusion-powers-newest-problem-is-people-secretly-making-nukes-2000767859

[SamuelAdams]

1. There can always be unintended consequences for anything.

The enormity of the problems fusion solves, if it works, has to take priority over theoretical downsides.

[DemocracyForever]

2. There's still toxic nuclear waste with fusion

that my engineer father always taught me was not green. It's better to burn hydrogen than use it for fusion that creates toxic nuclear waste. The only by-product from burning hydrogen is water,

[whopis01]

5. Burning hydrogen has no net energy gain.

You must produce from other sources - typically hydrocarbons - and that takes energy. It is essentially a battery, not a fuel.

The radioactive waste from fusion is from the structural materials of the reactor itself, having been bombarded by neutrons. This does need to be disposed of when the reactor is decommissioned, however it is relatively short lived and does not require the sort of handling and long term storage that is needed for fission by products.

[DemocracyForever]

8. Hydrogen gas is being found in greater quantities

I need to bring to your attention that an underground reserve of hydrogen gas has been found that's 26 times the remaining amount of the planet killing crude oil reserve. This is green hydrogen that doesn't need to be extracted from anything else. Only partial access of this hydrogen gas reserve will be enough power for humanity for 200 years. My engineer father was a firm believer that green hydrogen is the solution. My engineer father always taught me that nuclear power is not green because no one has figured out what to do with the waste. That reality does not change with fusion. Nuclear power is also incredibly expensive and dangerous when there's an accident.

[LudwigPastorius]

3. Sounds like that could be a convenient justification for a country bent on perma-war.

"We will never allow Iran or North Korea to have the potential for nuclear weapons production that a fusion reactor provides."

[DBoon]

4. Think of all the ways solar and wind power can create mass destruction

... I'm still thinking. I'm sure there is something.

[Festivito]

6. This seems so convolutedly stupid. I'm wondering if convolutedly is a word

Using neutrons from a so far, non-existent controlled fusion reactor to further separate uranium into plutonium somewhere additionally on the side. Why? You already have the uranium for your hardcore project.

Maybe it's a double reverse psychology against investing in fusion. Best to stick with sake at a fusion restaurant.

[hunter]

7. That's my first thought.

It makes the bullshit sound real.

Fools and their money are soon parted.