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and build a fusion reactor =D


Which is relatively trivial to do with He3, which is rather the point :)

He3-He3 fusion produces no neutrons, so it requires no mass shielding. The energetic particles that result are electrically charged, so their kinetic energy can be directly turned into electricity, which further adds to efficiencies and avoids all the real engineering problems that come from coupling power generators to the fusion plasma in some way. The ignition temperature for He3 fusion is higher than the traditional D-T fusion, but it's a heck of a lot easier to achieve high temperature containment when you don't have to worry about things like shielding, and that shielding becoming radioactive from neutron bombardment. A great deal of the engineering challenges that plague D-T fusion simply don't show up in He3 fusion.

However the way that you get He3 in large quantities, on Earth, is through D-T fusion. So He3 fusion being easier doesn't help much because to get the fuel you have to do the harder D-T fusion first... unless you go to cold traps on the Moon, or mine the atmosphere of Jupiter/Saturn.


3He-3He fusion is probably impossible. The 3He fusion reactors being talked about would use D-3He, and would still produce neutrons.

The two big issues with neutrons are damage to the reactor structure, and induced radioactivity preventing hands-on maintenance. D-3He could help with the first, but not the second. A D-3He reactor would still have to be maintained remotely, with robots. At best, it would reduce the radiation load on the robots.

The need to maintain fusion reactors with robots reminds me of what they did at the hot cells at Hanford to ensure they could be maintained after being used for reprocessing. They required that the operators install all the equipment there using the remote handling equipment (mechanical waldoes, not robots). I'll believe the fusion people can maintain their reactors when they do the same thing.




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