New FAQ - What are the supposed benefits of a successful Pol

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 4:58 pm

Greetings All,
This has been in the FAQ wiki, but I don't remember bringing it here for comment. Any comments to this one?
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What are the supposed benefits of a successful Polywell fusion solution over other solutions?

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When compared to the two primary solutions supported by major government funding, (Tokamac and Inertial Confinement) the significant benefits are size, cost, and fuel selection.

The latest tokamac design (ITER) is about the size of a supercarrier and will cost on the order of $18Billion plus energy conversion equipment costs to produce what is hoped to be some net power.

The proposed 100MW net power Polywell (WB-100) prototype is expected to be small enough to fit usefully into a submarine and cost about $200M plus energy conversion equipment costs. If the WB-100 proves successful, the cost of the fusion machine should fall dramatically. The primary cost should be related to the magnets which are consistent in size and complexity with high end MRI machines which currectly cost in the $10M range.

At this point though, there is more data to support the anticipated success of the ITER to reach its goals than for the WB-100 to reach its goals.

Another benefit is that while ITER and other "thermo-nuclear" processes will have a very difficult time using fuels that result in a-neutronic fusion, the Polywell seems more than capable of handling those fuels. Thus, the residual radiation from Polywells may be MUCH less than either the tokamac or the ICF.

http://www.ohiovr.com/polywell-faq/inde ... lutions%3F

Art Carlson · Post by **Art Carlson** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 5:06 pm

I object to the words "expected" and "seems". I don't expect that, and it doesn't seem that way to me, or to the majority of the plasma physics community. "speculation by some advocates" seems a more accurate phrasing.

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:00 pm

How about "expected by its advocates" and "seems to its advocates"?

Do these phrases meet the expectations of you? Sorry.

But at least the flow of the sentances would remain.

Art Carlson · Post by **Art Carlson** » Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:52 pm

At least it would get me to pipe down. I don't have time to do more than bellyache right now.

D Tibbets · Post by **D Tibbets** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:01 am

Perhaps, in fairness,squeeze in there RFC systems in the same catagory as Polywells, except with the cavet that they may be capable of significantly smaller Q's.

Also, not only is advanced fuels more attractive from a radiation standpoint, but much simplier as you do not need to generate tritium in situ, which is the only path open to thermonuclear approaches. Even D-D, while not aneutronic, avoids the tritium problem (from an essential supply standpoint, though not nessisarily from a waste standpoint).

Dan Tibbets

KitemanSA · Post by **KitemanSA** » Mon Jun 08, 2009 12:11 am

Dan,
I am not sure what you are suggesting.

I am not really interested in giving press to RFC in the Polywell FAQ except in a description of all competing systems.

There was such a list published on this forum recently. Can anyone point me to it? If so, I will include a "what other potential fusion systems are there?" type question.