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originally posted by: TEOTWAWKIAIFF
a reply to: Scratchpost
Not really. It is a funding issue and a plateau in technology. The universities are under the aegis to generate a thorough understanding of plasma processes which is a mathematical unknown (infinite matrices and Navier-Stokes) which politicians don’t understand so they cut funding. This yo-yo effect resets development to a brute force understanding of nuclear fusion. That is why ITER is so huge… it is 1980s technology because all the countries can understand and manufacture that level. That is why DT fuel mixture has not been researched because no reactor is ready to generate electricity (except Lockheed CFR which is having its tech funneled into Commonwealth). It is also why there is a private-public cooperation going on now… levels out the funding setbacks by governments.
ITER is a dinosaur and will be meaningless if it is beat to the burning fusion punch and electricity is generated by a different reactor.
Calling the whole thing a “scam” is a complete lack of history and understanding how academia works: get results or lose your funding.
This has been discussed throughout the thread.
See you in the “magic” future!