China plans world’s first fusion-fission power plant

[singletona@lemmy.world]

OK. Here's the real question.

Are they sharing that research? I ask because if we can all get our heads out of our asses on energy production that kinda... wipes out a major reason for wars. Oh sure there are lots of OTHER reasons, but getting that off the table of excuses would be nice.

Also using fission materials as a way to shield the fusion reaction is a damned interesting way of getting around the spalling problem of the fusion reaction destroying its containment walls.

[angrycommiekender@lemmy.world]

I'm pretty sure they aren't doing the design part of the research. A lot of the "new" designs that China has been testing recently, have been sitting on US and European shelves for decades, like since the late '60s and early '70s. There's just not really a way, in the West, to legally set up a test reactor. China can just ignore things like permits and zoning.

[angrycommiekender@lemmy.world]

Not that I'm aware of. All our power plants are just plain old nuclear energy boiling water. We're gonna use a damn Dyson Sphere to boil water......

We have bombs that use a similar starting mechanism, but they aren't exactly useful energy production.

[singletona@lemmy.world]

permits, zoning, human lives, environmental concerns...

Here's hoping it doesn't go boom.

[balder1991@lemmy.world]

It’s more accurate to say they might be, but not necessarily. China is very aware of the benefits of keeping ahead technologically.

[mangocats@feddit.it]

They don't usually go boom so much as ticky ticky ticky on the Geiger counters, maybe a little glow in the night too...

[mangocats@feddit.it]

I'd like to see a followup story published sometime other than the first of April.

[cosmonova@lemmy.world]

Partially yes absolutely. Some regions with more and more dams have recently experienced devastating floods, suggesting they‘ve tempered with nature a little too much. And yes, some of those new highspeed rails are barely ever used and mainly serve a symbolic purpose, namely connecting outer regions to the Beijing in some way or form. Nearly nobody uses those and the best case scenario for them would be a war so they can transport masses of troops quickly.

[sunzu2@thebrainbin.org]

Just like the US "shares" its IP

[peoplebeproblems@midwest.social]

I meant that we use neutron breeders to turn certain fuel rod waste into fissile plutonium I think.

The difference with the Chinese invention is that you don't need to transport the waste to a separate breeder.

[match@pawb.social]

i had no opinion and minimal knowledge about high speed rail in China going into this comment section, but it looks like the outer cities experience real estate growth in the wake of being connected by high speed rail, and reportedly the rail lines are some of the safest in the world. i can't imagine criticizing a country for building too much high efficiency mass transit in advance

[echodot@feddit.uk]

I don't imagine the US is going to be contributing much to science in the future.

[echodot@feddit.uk]

Isn't a Dyson Sphere supposed to use solar panels? I don't know how you would find enough water to cover the interior of an object with the radius of the Earth

[fordbeeblebrox@lemmy.world]

The likelihood of one blowing its top is about as likely as the front of a boat falling off, which I’d like to make clear is very uncommon

[pulsewidth@lemmy.world]

Not sure if you're being sarcastic but boats splitting in half is not uncommon, as far as boat structural failures go it's a relatively common one.

Stats on such a thing are unavailable but there are many news articles regarding boats splitting in half. I'd hope the safety factor on a fission reactor is several orders of magnitude higher than a seafaring vessel.

https://www.marineinsight.com/videos/why-do-ships-break-from-the-middle/

[ledericas@lemm.ee]

also known as a hydrogen bomb.

[Guest]

It seems like the opposite: fission triggered by fusion

[cynar@lemmy.world]

This is one of the biggest frustrations with nuclear power. The first power plants had issues (mostly due to them being bomb factory designs). We learnt from that, and designed better ones. They never got built. They were swamped in red tape and delays until they died.

Decades later, China comes in and just asks nicely. The designs work fine. China now leads the way, built on research we left to rot.

It's also worth noting that there is a big difference between a fusion power plant and a fission one. China is doing active research on it, as is the west. There's quite a friendly rivalry going on. We have also basically cracked fusion now. We just need to scale it up. The only big problem left is the tokamakite issue. The neutron radiation put off by the reaction transmutes the walls. Using radioactive materials as a buffer is an idea I've not heard of. I'm curious about the end products. A big selling point of fusion is the lack of long term waste. Putting a fission reaction in there too might lose that benefit.

[pineapplepizza@lemm.ee]

https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM

[simulation6@sopuli.xyz]

Is that a resonance cascade? Don't see those every day.