Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by nayroclade 1276 days ago
Except it isn't the HN readership who choose to constantly frame these stories in terms of engineering. From the article:

"These and other scientific, technological and engineering hurdles will need to be overcome before fusion will produce electricity for your home. Work will also need to be done to bring the cost of a fusion power plant well down from the US$3.5 billion of the National Ignition Facility. These steps will require significant investment from both the federal government and private industry."

If fusion research scientists continue to insist that their research has any viable path to use in commercial power generation, and to demand large amounts on funding on that basis, then they should expect to be critiqued on that same basis.
1 comments
skelpmargyar 1276 days ago
What that that paragraph means is that things that do not exist will cost money to bring into existence. A significant amount. It's not a critique. This is not new. This is not a fusion problem. There is an initial cost and development to any new technology. This technology is particularly difficult, however. It's also sustainable real renewable energy. You have to worry about actually being able to invent something before you can worry about saving money on that thing. Look up how much the Manhattan Project cost! This shit is not software engineering; It's really really fucking complicated it will cost a load of money.

We don't really know what path fusion research will lead to. It's science. We don't know what we could find out tomorrow that could apply this research. But even the promises of commercial power generation alone should be enough to keep funding the project whether it will happen in 50 years or 100 years. It's not like they aren't making progress. You can't rush research and also under fund them.

link
survirtual 1276 days ago
The Manhattan Project cost $2 billion, equivalent to $23 billion in today’s dollars — for the entire project.

~$2 trillion was used to bailout big businesses. If money was properly accounted for, $2 trillion could fund approximately 87 Manhattan Projects simultaneously in today’s dollars.

link