Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to The Downside of Nuclear Fusion?

Possible regulatory measures

These are going to seem obvious, but well here goes....

1. Due to high cost, safety, and security concerns related to nuclear waste handling, recommend not using D-D fusion reactors for retrofits of existing powerplants, or for steam generation in oil extraction facilities.

2. Replace existing powerplants (coal, nuclear, natural gas) with p-B11 fusion reactors due to their inherently 'clean' operation, if that proves to be so.

3. Convert uranium mining operations to boron-11 mining operations.

4. Consider special fusion facilities, e.g. at Yucca Mountain, that burn dangerously radioactive waste from obsolete fission processes.

5. Accelerate deployment of plug-in hybrid car technology to improve the fuel economy of vehicles, and support research of all-electric vehicles.

6. Incorporate fusion technology into the Moon-to-Mars Initiative, including in-transit propulsion, on-site fusion fuel production, storage & energy conversion, and manufacture of parts for additional fusion reactors.

7. Explore the economics of spacecraft that take off from a runway and fly into space, rendezvous with a comet or asteroid, mine rare compounds such as gold, platinum, diamond, water, etc. and then deliver volatiles to off-planet colonies before returning to Earth.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (19 posts)