Just caught a 'poor science' moment on Babylon 5. Ramirez's Starfury's damaged fusion reactor after the encounter with the Streib. Thing is, fusion BOMBS use fissile material to initiate fusion, and thus have dangerous radioactive products, but fusion reactors do not use fissile material -- they are plasma containers that fuse hydrogen into helium with heat and pressure. If the containment goes, it's just a love of very, very hot gas. Well, that's how it's supposed to go with present scientific understanding. Perhaps in the Bab5 world that changes? #Babylon5#SciFi
@jsgjames the containment vessels and cooling systems get bombarded by free neutrons and become quite radioactive.
It's a fun rabbit hole to go down. Check out the tokamak and stellaron fusion bottles and the problems with the super conductive magnets and cooling dealing with neutron damage.
@WagesOf "Now, an energy source consisting of 80 percent energetic neutron streams may be the perfect neutron source, but it’s truly bizarre that it would ever be hailed as the ideal electrical energy source. In fact, these neutron streams lead directly to four regrettable problems with nuclear energy: radiation damage to structures; radioactive waste; the need for biological shielding; and the potential for the production of weapons-grade plutonium 239—thus adding to the threat of nuclear weapons proliferation, not lessening it, as fusion proponents would have it."
@WagesOf Still using deuterium and H3. Not sure how they'll get usable power from it, unless it's used just like fission reactors for its heat to create steam to drive turbines. Still a long way off I'd think.
@jsgjames the lack of direct cooling mass and much smaller containment space opens options. I'm into it mostly because of the magnetic "bounce" that they draw the energy from directly for power.
That and it being something different than the stuff we've been working with for 50+ years.
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