Re: The Economic Development of the Moon

Quadibloc <jsavard@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

:On Nov 5, 10:40 am, Fred J. McCall <fmcc...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
:> I'll simply note that 11B fusion is much harder than even He3-He3
:> fusion, requiring energies an order of magnitude higher than D-T
:> fusion and confinement energies 500 times higher.
:
:Ah, but how does it compare to D-D fusion, the only real long-term
:fusion power from a common fuel?
:

D-D fusion is much easier than 11B and only slightly harder than D-T
fusion. The problem is that D-D fusion spits a lot of neutrons. This
is the same reason why D-T fusion isn't desirable. The D-D reaction
produces less energetic neutrons, but secondaries are still a problem.
D-D also requires containment about 30 times better than D-T fusion
and produces much less energy per reaction.

:
:Until we get D-D fusion - or something else like Boron-11 fusion,
:which I hadn't heard of before as a serious possibility - fusion would
:be a curiosity, and we would still need breeder reactors. Thorium
:breeders, at least, would give us a more common fuel relatively
:easily.
:

You seem to be mixing fusion and fission.


--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw
.

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