[sergj]

Saw this video explaining in a HN comment why stronger magnets and a different approach might make fusion work. After ca. 22:00 Minutes he is done with the fusion basics and explains the new approach. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpqA8yG9T4

[noetic_techy]

I don't know why this isn't the top comment. I came in a skeptic but that video really put to rest my doubts that these new REBCo superconductors are truly a breakthrough. The new designs they enable make ITER look like a massive obsolete waste of time. Sounds like the only hurdle now is 5 billion in funding needed for a prototype. Its no longer "50 years away", its now "5 billion away".

[sebastos]

Man, this was excellent. If you're passing by, definitely give this a watch. The speaker makes the material clear and understandable for the complete layman. Very exciting.

[ttul]

Really cool.

[VVyattPrentice]

At one point he briefly mentions (almost in an off-handed way) the issue of scaling the novel semiconductor production approach. Would be interesting to know how big of an ask that really is. Maybe I'm jaded by current events but figure it's only a matter of time before the science community has its Bernie Madoff moment. Especially in light of how renewables seem on the cusp of their moment to shine.

[inteleng]

>semiconductor

Is there a reason everyone in this thread is saying "semiconductor" instead of 'superconductor'?

[godelski]

Might be because people here generally work with computers. Not many people work with superconductors, so might be a priming issue.

[neltnerb]

Extremely hard, the superconductors are a ceramic that is very brittle, it's quite hard to make a nice wire out of it. If a single break in a long length ruins the whole stretch then scaling up would be massively challenging, you can't just rely on melting and cooling to nicely even out issues during drawing a wire.

[theothermkn]

This exactly misses a significant feature of these new, high temp and high field superconductors: they are a mass manufactured flexible steel-backed tape. These are not the old ceramic superconductors.